Every Abortion Stops A Beating Heart (Abortion in Nigeria)

Every Abortion
Stops a Beating Heart

Every Abortion Stops a Beating Heart

© 2010 C. Jean Garland and Patrick Idoko.
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CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 4
“IT HAS NOT GOT A SOUL YET” 9
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION TO THE ISSUE OF ABORTION 11

A BIG MISTAKE 15
CHAPTER TWO: ABORTION IN AFRICA AND NIGERIA 19

Abortion in Africa 19
What is the law on abortion in Nigeria? 21
Racism and abortion 23
HE EMPTIES HIS BUCKET OF BABIES IN THE DRAIN 27
CHAPTER THREE: THE PRACTICE OF ABORTION IN NIGERIA 28

How much does an abortion cost? 29
Who carries out the abortions in Nigeria? 29
What reasons do women and girls in Nigeria give when seeking
abortions? 31
What are the methods of abortion? 32
WHAT HAPPENED AFTER MY ABORTION? 33
“I AM PREGNANT AND SCARED” 37
CHAPTER FOUR: PRO-LIFE OR PRO-ABORTION? 39

“WE DID NOT TELL THEM IT WAS A BABY!” 51
“I GUESS YOU GOT IT ALL!” 52
“THEN I KNEW WHAT I HAD DONE!” 53
CHAPTER FIVE: THE LESSONS OF HISTORY 54

The Native Americans 54
The slave trade 55
The mass murders by the Nazis 56
Rwanda 58
Christian voices against abortion 59
Muslim voices against abortion 61
Feminist voices for and against abortion 62
Atheist voices against abortion 63
The Hippocratic oath 63
CHAPTER SIX: WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT ABORTION? 64
Wanted or unwanted? 64
Confusing language 65
Old Testament teaching about life in the womb 69
The New Testament teaching about life in the womb 73
God alone claims absolute sovereignty over life and death 82
The early church’s teaching on abortion 83
The Children (a poem) 85
CHAPTER SEVEN: IS THE UNBORN BABY IN THE WOMB REALLY A HUMAN
BEING? 88
The miracle of conception and milestones of early life in
the womb 89
2
Contents
“IT WAS TOO LATE” 101
CHAPTER EIGHT: DOES ABORTION HAVE RISKS? 102

CHAPTER NINE: THE MENTAL EFFECTS OF ABORTION AND GOD’S CURE 106
AINA 114
“WE WANT TO GET MARRIED IN CHURCH” 115
CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE CHURCH AND ABORTION 116

Easy to understand the pressure for abortion 116
Hating the sin but loving the sinner 118
What should be the Christian response to abortion? 119
Speak Out 119
Care 120
Educate 121
Pray 123
Pregnancy testing before marriage 123
Adoption, not abortion 131
CHAPTER TWELVE: ABORTION AND THE FUTURE DEVALUING OF HUMAN
LIFE 137
Test tube babies (in vitro fertilization) 138
Infanticide 140
Euthanasia 141
Conclusion 144
APPENDIX NIGERIAN LAW AND ABORTION 146
NOTES 148
3
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Jean Garland’s acknowledgements
I thank God for giving me life and that my mother did not abort
me. I thank God that he allowed me to be the mother to four
new lives. One of those lives, my first pregnancy, ended in a
miscarriage. One that sad day in August 1978, I knew I had not
just lost a blob of cells, but a baby who was greatly wanted, but
a baby who for some reason God did not allow to grow to full
maturity. My husband and I mourned that loss.
After qualifying as a nurse in 1974, I worked in a gynaecology

ward in Northern Ireland and then in the United States of
America. Many times women were admitted to hospital with
bleeding in pregnancy. Most of these women were distressed at
the possibility of losing their baby due to miscarriage. When I
saw the contents of their wombs emptied into a bed pan, I could
see without a doubt that though most were in the first 4
months of pregnancy they had lost a baby. Those perfectly
formed little ones lying in a cold bed pan were very clearly a
tiny boy or a tiny girl. They had all their little limbs and
features. These unwanted miscarriages led to the deaths of
babies.
I thank God for another motivating experience in my life. When

I was in my twenties, a close friend of mine had an abortion.
She was pregnant, at university, and very scared to tell her
Acknowledgments
strict Christian parents about her pregnancy. She secretly had

an abortion. A few years later she married, but after the birth of
her first baby had a severe mental illness that the psychiatrist
said was linked to the guilt of having the abortion. Her friends
and family were very distressed for her. The illness of my close
friend affected my life so intensely that I have always felt a
burden to speak out about abortion and be involved in trying to
find other choices for women and girls facing difficult
situations. If given other options, women and girls often do not
choose abortion.
Over the years, I have realised that the strongest supporters of

abortion are those who see it as an essential part of a “woman’s
right.” In Northern Ireland, for seven years before moving to
Africa in 1987, I often debated the ethics of abortion with those
who strongly supported free and easy abortion. Often these
campaigners claimed that every woman has a total right to
control the functions of her own body. They argued that she
has the right to stop herself becoming pregnant, and if that
fails, she has an equal right to stop herself from giving birth.
They vehemently claimed that a foetus (developing baby) in the
womb is only a part of the woman’s body and that no one can
challenge her right to get rid of “it” if she so chooses. Those
kinds of voices are becoming louder in Africa too, often through
Western non-Christian organizations promoting their own
agenda and providing funding with it. I believe that as
Christians we need to speak equally loudly if we are to succeed
in protecting the unborn child.
5
I thank God for the encouragement of my husband Dr. Sid

Garland to write this book. He has given me constant
encouragement to commit to paper what I have learned. More
than anyone, he inspired in me the confidence I needed to start
and finish this book. Without him this project would never have
been completed. He is my advisor, colleague, encourager and
best friend. I thank God for him.
I also thank God for the wisdom, experience and Christian

conviction of Dr. Patrick Idoko, a husband, a father and a
practising obstetrician and gynaecologist in Jos, Nigeria. He has
added much to this book as he has told of his own life and work
experience.
Patrick and I are grateful to Dr. Mike Blyth, an SIM missionary

paediatrician who has served at ECWA Evangel Hospital, Jos, for
many years. We thank Mike for his advice and also his editing
and formatting skills. His knowledge, faith, enthusiasm, and
heart of compassion are reflected in the text. Mike and his wife
Barbara have fostered more “unwanted” babies than anyone
else I know and have been a sterling example in Nigeria of how
to provide positive alternatives to abortion.
Living in Nigeria since 1987, I have yet to hear a full sermon

teaching the Biblical view of abortion. I have only once heard a
Nigerian pastor briefly mention abortion in one sermon. That
same pastor told me later that almost all of the people who
came for counselling after that sermon came because they were
finding it difficult to live with the guilt of abortion. I hope this
book will provide material so that pastors can teach their
6
Acknowledgments
people about God’s view of abortion. I pray that this material

will be read and acted on across Nigeria and Africa.
Patrick Idoko’s acknowledgements

The first time I seriously confronted the ethics of abortion was
as a medical student during a series of lectures on medical
ethics. We had a debate on the morality of abortion and I was
quite impressed by the argument of the pro-abortion group
even though I considered myself as anti-abortion. My anti-
abortion stance was not based on any solid scientific argument
but on the teaching of the church. Most churches in Nigeria are
anti-abortion. My personal experience, however, is that
abortion is a very common practice among church people.
There seems to be a dearth of sound scientific and theological
answers to the pro-choice argument in Nigeria. I hope that
pastors and indeed all Christians will find this a useful resource
material.
Later on, I was privileged to do some studies on Biblical ethics

facilitated by Dr. Tom Thacher. This gave me the opportunity to
explore more closely the moral issues involved in abortion.
During my post-graduate research work on Nigerian abortion
laws, Dr. Thacher provided me with helpful insights and
resources. I am very grateful to him for his guidance all through
the years and for giving me the courage to swim against the
tide of popular opinion.
As a gynaecologist, I am frequently confronted with the

problem of unwanted pregnancy and the demands for abortion.
7
I have also had to deal with the complications of unsafe

abortion. Some of these experiences are shared in this book.
Even though the stories shared in this book are true, great care
has been taken to protect the privacy of those involved by
changing names and other means of identification. I thank
those who gave me permission to use their stories in this book.
I am grateful to Jean Garland and her husband Sid Garland, who

sold me the idea of partnering with them to produce this book.
Finally, my gratitude goes to my wife and best friend Dr. Bukky
Idoko. She does a splendid job of managing a home with two
pre-school children and residency training in paediatrics.
Thank you for filling in for me on countless occasions and for
believing in me.
On the next page and throughout the book there are stories
that illustrate the realities and issues of abortion. These
stories are all true, known to one or the other author,
although the names and circumstances have been changed
to protect the privacy of the individuals.
Teachers and discussion leaders may find the stories

particularly useful as a way to start people thinking about the
issues and to consider various angles and problems.
8
“It Has Not Got A Soul Yet”
Ring! Ring!
My thoughts were elsewhere when I realised my cell phone was

ringing.
“Hello, Sir,” I answered, recognising the familiar number. The caller

was a well-known and respected pastor. I had been the doctor who
delivered his second child.
“Hello, doctor, how are you?” came back the confident voice.
“I am fine, thank you,” I replied. “How are madam and the family?”
“We are fine, doctor, but I need your help. My wife has not seen
her menstrual period in the last two months. We did a pregnancy
test and it is positive. Can you help us to remove it?”
The casualness with which he asked the question shocked me. He

wanted me to abort their baby. My mind searched for a suitable
reply.
“Oh! I am sorry about that,” I said. “But, why don’t you keep the
baby?”
“Doctor, you know our new baby is only six months old. We are not
ready for another one already,” the man replied.
Without sounding aghast I said, “I am not comfortable with

terminating pregnancies.”
“That’s fine,” The pastor replied. “But can you recommend any of
your colleagues who can do a good job for us?”
“I am sorry, pastor. My conscience does not allow me to end a life

or to aid anyone in any way to do so,” I replied with conviction.
His reaction was hostile and the words came fast and strong.
“Doctor, don’t preach at me,” came the irritated voice. “I am the
pastor and I know better. The pregnancy is not yet up to three
months so it does not have a soul or a spirit yet. There is nothing
wrong in removing it. If you doctors refuse to help us, you are
encouraging quacks to thrive. This is a great disservice to the
community.”
Click – the phone went dead.
I sat and ran his words and my reactions over in my mind. The
caller was a popular pastor in one of the towns in northern Nigeria.
He is a gifted orator and charismatic leader with a large following of
young adults. For me, it is not a surprise that many of his
congregation come looking for abortions when their spiritual leader
is not leading them in biblical truth.
10
CHAPTER ONE :
INTRODUCTION TO THE ISSUE OF

ABORTION
This book is written to arouse and strengthen your joyful and
thankful reverence for the gift of human life from conception to
eternity. The beginning of human life is an astonishing and
glorious thing. There is nothing else like it. Only humans come
into being, day after day, created in the image of God and to live
forever—with God or separated from God. There is no evidence
that animals live forever. The only beings in the universe who
keep on coming into existence and then live forever in the image
of God are man and woman.
Abortion is an ancient practice all over the world. It is a familiar

practice in Africa. In many traditional African cultures, the
ending of unwanted pregnancies has been an accepted practice.
Induced abortion—causing a pregnancy to end—has long been
practiced around the world as a way of birth control, but it is still
a very sensitive topic. It raises many strong feelings.
A person’s feelings and opinions about abortion depend on his or

her ideas about religion, politics, the meaning of life, and the
nature of right and wrong. Abortion is the most controversial and
publicized topic in health care. Everywhere it is the subject of
debate and legal cases. Abortion is legal in some circumstances in
almost every country in the world. In many countries, including
Nigeria and much of Africa, abortion is not legal except in

extreme circumstances. Even in those countries, however, it is
still commonly practiced.
Abortion has often been the subject of heartfelt arguments by

those who favour it and those who do not. But many people, even
pastors, have accepted abortion without even thinking about
whether it is right or wrong. They have never even considered
whether ending a new human life is right or is an abomination
before God. Even some committed Christians think abortion is a
necessary evil to avoid shame to the family and to hide the
evidence of immorality.
Abortion or miscarriage?
In this book, we are talking about the deliberate ending of
pregnancy in a way that ensures that the embryo or foetus does
not survive. We are speaking of what takes place when a woman
or girl purposely kills, or allows someone else to kill, an unborn baby
growing in her womb. This can be at any time between
conception and birth. In some local Nigerian languages, it can be
literally translated as “spoiling the belly” or “taking it off.” The
womb (uterus) is the “belly.”
People sometimes confuse the words “abortion” and

“miscarriage.” A miscarriage is what happens when a growing
baby comes out of the womb before it is ready to be born, or dies
inside the womb and then comes out later. In miscarriage no one is
trying to kill the baby. Miscarriage is frequent in the first three
months of pregnancy. Most often, the cause is unknown.
12
A big mistake
Sometimes medical doctors do use the words “spontaneous

abortion” to refer to miscarriage, but in this book we use abortion
to mean taking deliberate action to end the pregnancy and kill
the unborn baby.
The difference between abortion and miscarriage is like the

difference between being pushed under a bus and falling under a
bus. In both cases someone dies, but the first is a deliberate
killing while the second is an unfortunate accident. Abortion is
deliberate killing. Miscarriage is an unfortunate accident bringing
sadness to the mother and often the father.
An issue for our generation

Abortion is not just a question for an interesting debate. It is a
vital matter for our generation. The way we respond, as
individuals, as families, and as a society, says much about how we
view and respect all human life. The baby in the womb is hidden
from our view and the weakest and
most defenceless of all human life.
If we lose respect for the
baby in the womb, we will
gradually lose respect for
all human life. If the baby
in the womb is disposable,
then does that mean that
the young child who is
causing us stress is also
disposable? What about the elderly
13
people who can no longer be “useful” in the family? Are they also
disposable?
Some outside groups are “generously” giving more and more

money to the abortion lobby in Nigeria and Africa. The money is
being used to promote a culture of death in our society. The
argument is that if you become pregnant then abortion should be
available to “solve” the problem. As one Nigerian writes,
Just as in the past [the Western world] gave us gin and guns
and took our youths into slavery, now they offer us money and
condoms to compromise our future generations. We must
prove smarter than our forefathers and resist their present
overtures.” 1
Accepting abortion will have terrible effects on all of us. Nigeria

and Africa must not go down the road that the Western nations
have already travelled. In some of those countries, life that is not
“productive” or without a certain “quality” is pushed towards the
rubbish pit and disposed of. This can happen to the unborn, the
newly born, the disabled and the elderly. And this disposal is
called “compassion.”
14
A big mistake
A Big Mistake
Nancy was at boarding school in the city. Her mother, father and
extended family lived far away in the southern part of their state.
They were very proud that Nancy got admission to this top class
boarding school and often talked to their friends about how hard
she was studying. Her parents had worked hard on the farm to
help pay for her school fees. An uncle had helped pay for the
books and uniform.
At school, Nancy had a good friend called Lami. They did

everything together. They ate together, studied together and
walked together arm-in-arm between classes. They were always
laughing together.
During one of the school holidays, when there was not enough
time or money to travel home, Nancy stayed with her uncle in Jos.
She was invited to a party in Theresa’s house. Nancy felt honoured
to be popular enough to be invited as a friend of Theresa, as
Theresa was known to be from a rich family.
The party was fun. There was dancing and great music and many
attractive, well-dressed and “cool” people were there. One of the
very attractive young men, James, asked Nancy if he could get her
a drink. She was flattered and said yes expecting him to return with
a Coke.
When James returned, he was carrying a glass of white wine.

Nancy had never drunk wine before. She was confused and
embarrassed, but she did not want to appear different from the
others at the party, so she accepted the drink. Soon, she was
feeling very relaxed and light headed. She was laughing a lot and
15
feeling more confident in herself. James brought her another glass

of wine and again she took it.
Nancy had never had alcohol before. She enjoyed the feeling of
being carefree. The third glass of wine James gave her was the
last thing that Nancy remembered of the evening. What happened
next was unclear in her memory.
Light was entering the window when Nancy woke up the following
day. She stretched and looked around her. Everything was so
unfamiliar looking. With a shock she sat up in the bed. Where was
she? What had happened? This was not her uncle’s house. This
must be Theresa’s house.
She slowly remembered some of the details of the night before.

The party. The music. James bringing her the glasses of wine. But
why was she in bed at Theresa’s house? She had not told her
uncle that she was not coming home.
As she got up and prepared for her bath, Nancy realised that she
felt wetness between her legs. And she felt tender and sore when
she tried to pass urine. Could this be what you felt like when you
have had sex? Who was the man? Why did she not remember? A
cold panic seized her heart.
When Nancy got back to her uncle’s house she told a long story as
to why she did not return home the night before. How could she
really tell the truth?
The holidays passed and Nancy went back to school. It was good
to see Lami again. She told Lami about the party, but not the
details of spending the night at Theresa’s home. She did not tell
her about her fears.
16
A big mistake
The next month Nancy did not see her menses as she expected.
She pushed this uncomfortable fact to the back of her mind and
tried not to think about it. For weeks she denied the thing that she
feared. She was pregnant.
After about two months had gone by, Nancy took courage to talk to
Lami. But Lami had no idea what to do. They decided to ask
Theresa. Immediately Theresa said, “Oh, do not worry. I have a
friend who will help.”
On a hot, dusty April day, at the back of a dirty pharmacy shop,

Nancy lay on a wooden table with her legs wide open in front of
small, fat man with hard, cold eyes. She had an abortion. It was so
painful she had to bite on a cloth to stop herself screaming. The
pain seemed to burn the depths of her soul. She wept tears of hurt
and relief together. The small, fat man patted her leg and said,
“You’re OK now. That will be 1500 naira.”
But Nancy was not OK. The next day Nancy had a fever. The next
day after that she was shaking and calling out to God as she saw
large blood clots come from her private parts. And the smell! “What
was that smell?”
Nancy was admitted to hospital in a serious condition as her fever

climbed and her mind became confused. The voices of the doctors
and nursing staff were far-away echoes in her head. She seemed
to hear their concerned voices but was not able to answer. Was
that her mother’s face she saw?
Nancy survived, but only after her infected and punctured womb
was removed, only after doctors gave her strong antibiotics to treat
the infection invading her whole body.
17
“No one will one want to marry me. I will never be able to have
children!” were the words heard through Nancy’s bitter sobs. Few
could say anything to bring any comfort.
Nancy did what many girls do. She had an abortion, not because
she wanted to but because she panicked and tried to solve her
problem without thinking of the consequences. No one ever told
her that there was a better alternative. No one asked Nancy to
think about the rights of her baby, or her duty to protect the life
forming within her. The little one was torn apart by cruel hands
invading what should have been the safest place on earth.
18
CHAPTER TWO :
ABORTION IN AFRICA AND NIGERIA

Abortion in Africa
The abortion laws in most of Africa are restrictive. In most
French-speaking African countries they are modelled on a French
law of 1920. In the English-speaking countries they are modelled
on the 1861 British law on “crimes
against the person.”
No African country completely

prohibits abortion, but laws
prohibit it under almost all circum-
stances. Of the 53 African countries, 25
countries permit abortion only when the
mother’s life is in danger. Sudan also
allows abortion in the event of
rape or incest.
Ghana’s abortion laws are more liberal than most. Ghana allows
abortion not only to save the life of the woman but also to
preserve the physical or mental health of the woman. The
wording of Ghana’s law is similar to that of the United Kingdom’s
1967 Abortion Act. This opened the door to easy abortion because
the “mental health of the mother” can be interpreted very
loosely. Even if the woman or girl is “upset” about being pregnant
she is in most cases able to have an abortion under the law. In
Britain, the USA, and many other countries, allowing abortion for
the “health” of the mother has meant, in effect, that there are no
longer any meaningful restrictions against it.
In Zimbabwe, abortion is legal only if the life or physical health of

the woman are threatened, or in the event of rape, incest or
malformation of the foetus.
Kenya’s abortion laws are similar to Nigeria’s. In May 2008, a bill

was sent to Kenya’s Parliament seeking to make abortion laws
less restrictive. As of the writing of this book in late 2010, Kenya
has adopted a new Constitution that allows abortion for the health
of the mother, potentially opening the door for abortion on
demand as in many other places.
Ethiopia revised its abortion laws in May 2005. Ethiopia is one of

the nations with the most liberal abortion laws on the African
continent, with abortion permitted for a wide variety of reasons
as well as for women with physical or mental disabilities, minors
who are not psychologically prepared and pregnancy resulting
from rape and incest.
Abortion is largely prohibited in Uganda. There is strong pressure

to change the laws, especially in the north of Uganda due to the
incidence of rape from the activities of the LRA rebels. The
Government of Uganda is resisting that pressure.
South Africa introduced new abortion laws in 1997, It is reckoned

that 10,000 abortions a week have been carried out under these
very liberal abortion laws. It is sad that when freedom came to
black Africans after the fall of oppressive apartheid regime, the
20
Abortion in Africa and Nigeria
Africa National Congress Government used their new-found

freedom to oppress the weakest members of society, the unborn
children.
The “Maputo Plan of Action,” a non-binding resolution that was

approved by the African Union in 2007, calls upon African
countries to “enact policies and legal frameworks to reduce
incidence of unsafe abortion.” This wording intends that they
should introduce legal abortion. The Health Ministers of Africa
“approved” the Maputo protocol. Each country would still have
to pass legislation before their abortion laws would be changed.
Sadly, African health ministers agreed to the Maputo protocol
when Western donors pressured them by offering money if they
would allow legal abortion. Money the donors offered for
improving medical care of pregnant women appeared to be
linked with money for providing abortions in hospital for women
who ask for it.2
What is the law on abortion in Nigeria?

Most abortion is illegal in Nigeria and carries punishment of up to
14 years in prison, except when the abortion is done to save the
woman’s life. In spite of this, every year thousands of women
resort to having an abortion.
Abortion in Nigeria is governed by two different laws. In the

northern states of Nigeria, with about half the country’s
population, the Penal Code, Law No. 18 of 1959, is in effect. In the
southern part of Nigeria, the Criminal Code of 1916 is in effect.
While both Codes generally prohibit performing abortions,
21
differences in wording and interpretation have resulted in two

slightly different treatments of the offence of abortion. (See
Appendix
Nigerian Law and Abortion, for more details on the law in
Nigeria.)
In 1981, the Nigerian Society for Gynaecology and Obstetrics

sponsored a Termination of Pregnancy Bill in the House of
Representatives. However, pressure groups lobbied against it, and
the bill did not pass. The bill would have allowed abortion if two
medical doctors certified that the continuation of a pregnancy
would involve risk to the life of a pregnant woman, or of injury to
her physical and mental health or to any existing children in her
family greater than if the pregnancy were terminated. The bill
would also have allowed abortion if “there was a substantial risk
that the child, if born, would suffer such physical and mental
abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped.” Abortions
performed on these expanded grounds could have been carried out
only in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, except to save the life of
the woman. The bill also would have permitted physicians to
refuse to perform an abortion on grounds of conscience.
This cleverly worded bill was strongly opposed by religious

leaders and by the Nigerian National Council of Women’s
Societies of Nigeria, who feared that its passage would promote
sexual promiscuity. The abortion law has remained unchanged to
date.
The 1967 Abortion Act in the United Kingdom has very similar
wording to this proposed 1981 bill, but the interpretation of the
22
wording “injury to physical or mental health” has been

interpreted so loosely that it is virtually “abortion on demand.”
In other words, if a doctor says that the woman or girl was
distressed because she was pregnant, he can take that as grounds
to offer her an abortion. Two doctors need to agree on this, but
the interpretation is so lax that thousands of women and girls
have abortions each year. If the 1981 bill had been passed in
Nigeria there would have been more freedom to end thousands
more little lives.
In February 2006, in the Nigerian Senate, a Private Member’s Bill

relating to abortion came before the Senate. After a speedy
hearing, it was dispatched to the House of Representatives and
the Executive for assent. This bill asked for the setting up of a
National Institute for Reproductive Health, but many pro-life
people were concerned, believing that this would eventually
make abortions easy to obtain. The bill did not become law.
There have been calls from the Nigerian Medical Association to

make abortion legal. However, change is not expected in the near
future. Vocal opposition comes from religious leaders, politicians
as well as pro-life campaigners.
Racism and abortion

In January 2009, many Africans wept with intense joy at the
inauguration of the first African-American President in the
United States. Unfortunately, like many others in a world that
rejects the Bible’s teaching, he has shown himself to be trapped
and blinded by the popular culture of deceit.
23
On the 36th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the United States

Supreme Court case that opened the door to abortion on demand
for American women, President Barack Obama said, “We are
reminded that this decision not only protects women’s health and
reproductive freedom, but stands for a broader principle: that
government should not intrude on our most private family
matters.”
Politicians who help the poor and those living in poor conditions
are to be commended. However, we pray that God will open their
eyes to see that, as well as protecting women’s health, we should
be protecting the lives of many millions of female children every
year. Killing our unborn children cannot be a private family
matter. Any just and fair society should protect the weakest
members of that society.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if abortion was as culturally

blameworthy as racism? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if being
publicly pro-abortion was as shameful as being publicly racist?
Dr. Alveda C. King, daughter of Rev. A. D. King, Martin Luther

King Jr.’s brother, is strongly against abortion. She is founder of
the organization King for America. She has said,
We have been fuelled by the fire of “women’s rights” so long

that we have become deaf to the outcry of the real victims
whose rights are being trampled upon, the babies and the
mothers…. What about the rights of each baby who is
artificially breached before coming to term in his or her
mother’s womb, only to have her skull punctured, and feel, yes
agonizingly “feel” the life run out of her before she takes her
24
first breath of freedom? What about of the rights of these

women who have been called to pioneer the new frontiers of
the new millennium only to have their lives snuffed out before
the calendar even turns?
Oh, God, what would Martin Luther King, Jr., who dreamed of
having his children judged by the content of their characters do
if he’d lived to see the contents of thousands of children’s
skulls emptied into the bottomless caverns of the abortionists
pits?
It is time for America, perhaps the most blessed nation on

earth to lead the world in repentance, and in restoration of life!
… Abortion is at the forefront of our destruction. Partial Birth
Abortion is perhaps the most heinous form of this legal
genocide.… The only healing and redemption is in the blood of
Jesus, blood willingly shed so that we could stand today and
cry out for the blood of the unborn that is drenching the land of
our children.
[Martin Luther] King [Jr.] once said, “The Negro cannot win as
long as he is willing to sacrifice the lives of his children for
comfort and safety.” How can the “Dream” survive if we murder
the children? Every aborted baby is like a slave in the womb of
his or her mother.… If the Dream of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.
is to live, our babies must live. Our mothers must choose life. If
we refuse to answer the cry of mercy from the unborn, and
ignore the suffering of the mothers, then we are signing our
own death warrants.
25
I too, like Martin Luther King, Jr., have a dream. I have a

dream that the men and women, the boys and girls of America
(and Africa) will come to our senses, and humble ourselves
before God Almighty and pray for mercy, and receive His
healing grace. I pray that this is the day, the hour of our
deliverance. May God have mercy on us all.3
26
He empties his bucket of babies in the drain
She is my friend. I sat with her one day and asked her if she knew
anything about abortion in Nigeria. In a hushed voice she told me
that when she was at school her elder sister arranged an abortion
for her.
I asked her how the abortion was done. She said a man did it at
the back of his patent medicine store. And she added, “He still
does abortions up to today, as sometimes when I am going home I
see him emptying his bucket of babies into the drain.”
I felt sick as I thought of the many women’s lives ruined and the
many babies who never saw the light of day. Those babies did not
choose to die.
I asked her how she felt about her abortion now. She said that she
only realized what abortion really was when she was married and
was pregnant with her first baby. So many women and girls need
to know the facts relating to abortion.
CHAPTER THREE :
THE PRACTICE OF ABORTION IN

NIGERIA
It is hard to find accurate statistics on the number of abortions in
Nigeria because many are never recorded. However, research
indicates that many abortions are being done:
• Interviews of 800 young girls at school in Port Harcourt

showed that 78% were sexually active, and 89% had
terminated at least one pregnancy with an abortion. The
girls were from 12 to 19 years old.4
• Abortions are often performed by unskilled providers or
under unhygienic condition or both. Estimates based on
figures for 2008 indicate that 22 million unsafe abortions
take place each year and an estimated 68,000 women die
as consequences of unsafe abortion, and almost all (99%)
occur in developing countries.5
• The Society of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians of
Nigeria estimates that there are at least 610,000 abortions
each year in Nigeria.6 That is a rate of 25 abortions for
every 1000 women aged 15–44 years old.
• It is thought that up to 20,000 Nigerian women die from
unsafe abortions each year.7 If these figures are true, that
is about 54 deaths per day.
Pregnant and scared
A nationwide survey in Nigeria found that 50% of the

20,000 women who die from the complications of
abortion are adolescents. Nigeria has one of the highest
death rates from abortion in Africa.8
• Nigeria has one of the highest maternal mortalities in the
world. It is reckoned to be as high as 1,500 women per
100,000 births.9
• About a million births a year in Nigeria are to teenage
mothers, and abortion complications are responsible for
72% of all deaths among teenagers below the age of 19.10
• 28% of abortions in Nigeria are done on married women.11
How much does an abortion cost?

Abortions cost money. An abortion at the
doctor’s clinic can cost more than
₦20,000 (US $130). However, in un-
qualified hands, an abortion could
cost as little as ₦600 ($4).12
Who carries out the abortions in Nigeria?

Thirty per cent of women who get abortions in Nigeria pay a
medical doctor to do the abortion. This is often carried out in a
private clinic, perhaps owned by a doctor who may also have a
job in one of the government hospitals. Twenty-five per cent pay
a nurse or midwife to do the abortion, and almost half use
traditional providers with no medical training or else take drugs
that they buy themselves.13
29
A survey done in Jos, Nigeria, showed that 80% of the abortions

were done in private clinics, and 13% of the women said that they
did the abortion themselves.14
The following statement was printed by the Family Planning

Association.
Although the provision of abortion is highly restricted in

Nigeria, findings from a 1996 survey of 67 health professionals
from two-thirds of the country’s states indicate that women of
all socioeconomic levels obtain induced abortions, albeit under
a wide range of conditions.
Nationally, about one-third of women seeking an abortion are

thought to obtain it from a physician, and almost one-quarter
are believed to go to a nurse or midwife; nearly half are
thought to either use traditional providers who have no formal
medical training, take drugs they purchase over the counter or
employ other means to induce the abortion themselves.
Because such a high proportion of abortions are likely

performed by unskilled providers or are self-induced, about
two-fifths of all women who have an abortion are believed to
suffer a medical complication, and nearly one-fifth are
expected to be hospitalized for treatment of health consequen-
ces. Urban women and those who are relatively well-off are
more likely than their rural and poor counterparts to have
access to safe abortion services and hospital treatment for
medical complications.15
30
Pregnant and scared
What reasons do women and girls in Nigeria give

when seeking abortions?
Most of those who are looking for abortions are unmarried young
people, but married women may also look for abortions because
they feel they do not have enough money to support a child or for
other reasons.
Women gave these reasons for having an abortion in one

Nigerian survey:
• 30% had the abortion because they were still in school

• 40% said it was bad timing for them to have a baby
• 9% said the high cost of children pushed them to it
• 4% said that they were abandoned by their partner
• 5% said their pregnancy was socially unacceptable.16
In 1996, when 725 women (15–49 years) in Jos were questioned

about abortion the survey showed that 60% had little education
or only primary education.17
Young people are more likely to experience failed attempts at

pregnancy termination and to have higher risk of post-abortion
complications than older women.
Thirty-five per cent of those who had abortions reported

significant post-abortion complications.18
31
What are the methods of abortion?

Women with unwanted pregnancies have turned to abortion for
centuries. Knowledge on how to do an abortion is sometimes
passed from generation to generation. The risks, costs and
consequences of these abortions are linked to the methods
chosen.
How are abortions done when NOT carried out in clinics or

hospitals?
Some traditional medicines made from
plants are well known for causing abortions.
Women say that these plants “bring on a
period” rather than having a real
understanding that they cause abortions.
These can cause infections, bleeding, comas,
fever, kidney failure and even the death of the woman or girl
using them. When successfully used for abortion, they obviously
cause death to the baby.
In addition to these methods there are all kinds of products

which, although not actually designed to cause abortions
themselves, do leave serious after-effects. Tragically, using these
products to cause an abortion is very dangerous for the mother,
who is likely to die or have her womb and vagina so badly
damaged that she may not be able to become pregnant in the
future.
32
Pregnant and scared
Other methods of causing abortion include trying to break the

amniotic sack (bag of waters around the baby) inside the womb
with a sharp object.
To do any of these things is extremely dangerous and frequently

causes tearing and puncturing of the womb followed by severe
bleeding, and even the death of the woman or girl.
Will my baby feel pain during the abortion?

When doctors first began inserting instruments into the womb,
they did not know that the unborn baby would react to pain in
the same fashion as a child would when pierced with something
sharp. But now we know that babies do feel pain, move away
from the instrument trying to harm them and may even utter a
silent scream as they are being killed.
What happened after my abortion?
“When I returned home after they did the abortion I had very heavy
bleeding and severe cramps for two days. I was so afraid
something was wrong that I contacted the nurse on my cell phone.
She had told me where to get my abortion. She said I was OK
without suggesting an examination to see what was wrong. I went
back to my job. I went to the toilet. It was then I found my baby on
my sanitary pad inside my pants. He had arms and legs with tiny
hands and feet. I could make out his little nose and a dark spot that
I know was his eye. Even after ten years, it’s still hard for me to
think about it.”
33
Abortions carried out in clinics or hospital

During the first three months of pregnancy, called the first
trimester, there are two common types of abortion. The first one
is the suction abortion (vacuum extraction).
Vacuum aspiration or extraction (suction method)

The baby and the afterbirth (placenta) are sucked out of their safe
place into a jar or container. This method of abortion is often
used until the baby is about 14 weeks old and may be done after
the woman has been put to sleep (given anaesthetic), though in
some places she is awake. Many girls tell of lying awake during
this procedure and screaming and “passing out” due to the pain.
Dilatation and Curettage

The second most common method of abortion is a dilatation and
curettage (D & C). Using forceps the baby is pulled piece by piece
out of the womb. The afterbirth (placenta) is then scraped off the
wall of the womb with the curette. A curette is a sharp loop-
shaped knife with a long handle. Usually, but not always, the
woman/girl is put to sleep (given anaesthetic) before this
procedure.
The neck of the womb (the

cervix) may be permanently
damaged from this proce-
dure, leading to recurrent
miscarriages or premature deli-
very later in life when the preg-
nancy is really wanted. While
34
Pregnant and scared
writing this, I met a woman who had dilatation and curettage five
times before she got married. She has been married for three
years now and all her pregnancies since she got married have
ended in a miscarriage.
Sometimes women have a dilatation and curettage when they are

not pregnant. This is a procedure that is often done when the
woman has heavy menstrual bleeding, or if the doctor needs to
do investigations of infertility. In this case there is no baby
present.
The following three methods are used for pregnancies more than
16 weeks. These are used very rarely in Nigeria but are common
in many countries of the world. All of these procedures are highly
risky.
Dilatation and Evacuation

During the second three months of pregnancy (second trimester),
the dilatation and evacuation or (D & E) method is used. This is
sometimes referred to as partial-birth abortion. Because the baby
is too large to fit through the cervix, the abortionist uses an
instrument to turn the baby, grabs hold of the baby’s leg or arm
and twists the part until it is torn from the body. That part is then
pulled through the cervix. This is repeated limb by limb until the
baby has been totally torn apart. The spine must also be snapped
and the skull crushed to remove these pieces. Sometimes suction
is used to suck out the baby’s brain making the skull more fragile
and easier to crush. The nurse’s job is often to lay all the body
parts out to make sure the abortionist got the entire baby out of
35
the womb. If this is attempted in Nigeria, women often die from

severe bleeding.
Hysterotomy
This is similar to a caesarean section, but done before the baby
has reached an age when it can survive outside the womb. The
mother’s abdomen and womb are opened by the surgeon and the
baby is lifted out. Some babies aborted this way are born alive,
but their lungs are not well enough developed for them to live
outside the womb, so they must be killed or left to die. Over the
years many nurses have seen tiny babies delivered by this
method and left to die in a cold basin in a room at the back of the
clinic. It is usually done for babies that are too big to be sucked
out with the suction evacuation or removed by dilatation and
curettage. This is not a common method of abortion in Nigeria.
Saline or salt poisoning abortion

In this method, a large needle is inserted through the mother’s
abdomen and through the womb into the sac where the baby is. A
strong salt solution is inserted from a syringe. This salt burns the
baby. The baby takes the salt solution into its lungs. Eventually,
after a lot of suffering and struggling, the baby dies. After the
baby dies, the mother goes into labour and delivers a dead baby.
This is a horrendous method of abortion which brings a lot of
pain to the baby as it dies. This method of abortion is rare in
Nigeria.
36
Pregnant and scared
“I am pregnant and scared”
The out-patients’ clinic was busy. My next patient was a sweet girl
whom I will not easily forget. She looked nervous, anxiously
wringing her hands as in low tones she explained her situation to
me.
“My name is Florence,” she said. “I am 23 years old and am a final

year student in the university. I am an orphan. In fact, my life has
been so difficult. I have been getting some help from my boyfriend.
And some from my only brother, who is my senior.”
She looked sad as she continued her story. Her face seemed to
reflect a sincere confusion inside. The words came tumbling out in
short sentences with little pause for breath.
“Some time ago my boyfriend promised to marry me. I was looking

forward to the wedding, that is, once I finished my university course
in a few months’ time. But I have not seen my menstruation for
three months. I did a pregnancy test and it was positive. I can’t
believe I am pregnant. I’m scared. My boyfriend says I have to
have an abortion. That is what he wants but I am not so sure that is
a good idea.
My boyfriend says he will end our relationship. My brother is the

only one paying my school fees and he says that is the end now
that I am pregnant.”
She paused and gazed out the window as if looking off into the
future. Her voice dropped to a whisper.
“What am I to do? Even my close girl friends have been urging me

to be reasonable and abort the pregnancy. Even though I am not
37
sure, it seems I have no choice. Who will provide for me and my

baby?”
Many girls face a similar situation. What would you do if you were
Florence? What advice would you give to Florence in her difficult
situation?
Every
abortion
stops a
beating
heart.
38
Chapter Four :
Pro-Life or Pro-Abortion?
What are the arguments and the facts?
Some people and groups argue vigorously and passionately for
providing abortion services to all women who want it for
whatever reason. Pro-abortionists usually prefer the term “pro-
choice,” meaning that they believe women should have the choice
to abort their babies. “Pro-life” people and groups support the
right to life of the unborn child and argue against making
abortion easily available to anyone who wants it.
The pro-choice lobby argues that the woman should have the
right to choose whether or not to end her pregnancy. This position
really only has one basic argument, that the unborn baby is not a
person, and so has no right to life. Here are some of the
statements that “pro-choice” (pro-abortion) campaigners put
forward, together with replies from the pro-life point of view.
Pro-abortion campaigners argue: An unborn baby is not a

person and so does not have a right to life
A person according to the dictionary is one who belongs to the
human race. What makes one to belong to the human race is that
he has the genetic characteristics of the human race. These
genetic characteristics are obtained from his or her father and
mother, both of whom belong to the human race.
“A living being’s designation to a species is not by the stage of

development, but by the sum total of its biological
characteristics.... if we say that [the foetus] is not human i.e. a
member of Homo sapiens, we must say that it is a member of
another species but this cannot be.”19
When doctors first began invading the sanctuary of the womb,

they did not know that the unborn baby would react to pain in
the same fashion as a child would. But they soon learned that he
or she would.
Even society knows that inside every pregnant woman is an

innocent life worth protecting. That is why the news is usually
more sensational when a pregnant woman is rescued from a
natural disaster or violently killed, for example, during armed
conflict.
Pro-abortion campaigners argue: A woman has the right to

do with her own body whatever she chooses
This is one of the most frequently-used arguments in favour of
abortion. Many people who would not have an abortion
themselves will still argue that a woman should have the right to
choose to have an abortion if she wishes. This comes from the
belief that it is her body and therefore her choice.
However, a person’s right over her own body is not an absolute

right. For example, in many countries it is not legal to be a
prostitute, so a person does not have a right to be a prostitute.
Likewise, a person does not have a right to take illegal drugs.
40
A baby in the womb, called a foetus,

is not part of the woman’s body.
From the moment of conception
(fertilisation), the baby has different
genes from the mother, giving the
baby its own characteristics. The
clearest example of this is that the
baby may be a male, and this happens Human foetus at 10 weeks
at the very instant of conception. Clearly, a male embryo or baby
is not part of the woman’s body!
The baby has a different blood system than the mother and often
has a different blood group from the mother. Maybe you did not
know that the mother’s blood and the baby’s blood do not mix
but are separated. The food and oxygen that the baby needs
passes across the placenta (afterbirth) to the baby. Just because
the baby is living inside the mother does not make the baby part
of the mother. See the illustrations here and on page 99.
Some would argue that the baby cannot live without the mother,
so it is not a real human being. Yes, the baby does depend on the
mother, but even after birth it is many years before the baby will
not be dependent on someone. The fact that the baby is
dependent does not give us the right to take the baby’s life.
41
Pro-abortion campaigners argue: If abortion is not legal,

then women and girls will be forced to have unsafe
abortions where their lives will be more at risk.
Abortion is never safe for the woman and is certainly not safe for
the baby.
There are in fact many women and girls dying from abortions.
But, if the baby is a person, by arguing for legalised abortion we
are asking that the killing be done more safely. How can we offer
our citizens safe killing? Even if abortion is legal and “safer” for
the mother, it is certainly not safe for the baby. Abortion cannot
be compared with any other type of surgery in which a part of
the woman’s body is removed. Having an abortion is not like
removing a piece of tissue, an appendix or a cyst.
If we in Africa look at many Western countries where abortion

has been legalised, we find that legalising abortion has led to
huge rises in the number of abortions. In the United States before
1973, there were only about 100,000 abortions per year. Then the
US Supreme Court opened the doors of abortion clinics, with a
ruling that amounted to creating a right to abortion on demand.
Now, there are about 1.5 million abortions each year, and killing
unborn babies has become a money-making business. Abortion is
being used as a means of family planning, family spacing or just
contraception.
I recently talked to an American midwife who met one of her

patients about to deliver. The midwife learned that her 25-year-
old patient had already had 17 abortions. In other words, she had
used free and easy abortion as her means of contraception.
42
Pro-abortion campaigners argue: Forcing women, especially

poor women, to continue their pregnancies will cause
overwhelming hardship
Pro-choice (pro-abortion) supporters argue that without access
to abortion women will suffer more economic hardship. They will
be limited to a life of poverty that will also be unfair to the
children they bring into the world. It is true that many women
left to care for big families are facing great hardship.
We need to again come back to our basic argument. Are the

unborn poor really persons? Yes, we believe that they are really
people deserving the protection of the right to life.
If we say a child in the womb should be killed because he or she

may be poor and a burden, then why should we stop there? Why
should we not rid our towns and cities of poor people? Why
should the government not gather up all of the homeless, the
street children, and the poor who live in our slums and just kill
them all because they are poor and a burden on society? That is
such a shocking idea! Why do we not rid ourselves of all those
who are begging and are a financial burden to our country?
Because they are human beings with a right to life. The baby in
the womb has the same right to life.
Since when did being a financial burden become a reason to end

someone’s life? In a civilised society, and especially in a Christian
society, the right to life should be protected at all costs and every
human being treated with the dignity of a person made in the
image of God. Medical doctors work hard to save the lives of
43
newly born babies. They should

The solution to equally make every effort to save the
lives of babies in the womb.
unwanted
pregnancies is not The solution to unwanted pregnan-
cies is not to kill the babies. The
to kill the babies.
solution is to create policies that lift
The solution is to the poor out of poverty. The solution
create policies that for an individual baby may be
lift the poor out of adoption by a family with the finan-
cial means, and perhaps with no
poverty.
children of their own. No matter how
severe the problems, in a civilised
society and with the authority of the Holy Scriptures behind us,
we must not kill to solve our problems. We will discuss more
about abortion alternatives later in this book.
Pro-abortion campaigners argue: Society should not force

women to bring unwanted children into the world
Often, what was an unwanted pregnancy before delivery becomes
a very much wanted baby after birth. Sometimes the baby
becomes much loved and wanted by the mother herself. Even
when she still does not want the baby, there are often extended
family or adoptive parents who badly want him or her.
But suppose the baby is truly unwanted. This argument says that
a baby should not be brought into the world unless it is wanted
by the parents. The pro-abortion lobby argues that unwanted
children may be abused and neglected, so that abortion will
prevent that problem. But again we must remember that the baby
44
in the womb is a person with rights. Is

it right to kill a baby so that he or she Is it right to kill a
will not be abused in the future? No,
baby so that he or
killing that baby would be the worst
form of child abuse. she will not be
abused in the
The value of a person does not depend
on being wanted. The fact that the future? No, killing
parents do not want a baby tells us that baby would
something about the parents, not be the worst form
about the child. Nor is it right or lawful
in other situations to kill someone who
of child abuse.
is not wanted.
Churches and those who claim to love the Lord Jesus Christ must
help care for “unwanted” children.
Pro-abortion campaigners argue: But isn’t an abortion

merciful if the unborn child is found to be handicapped?
It is never merciful to kill. God never gave us that authority. A
child with a disability is still a child made in God’s image and
valuable in his sight. How do we decide what is a disability? Many
adults have disabilities and we do not kill them. The response to
children with disabilities is to care for them and not destroy
them. When doctors counsel the parents of an unborn child with
defects we should examine the motive. They often say, “The child
will not have a life worthy of living.” Who are we to judge what
life is worth living and what is not?
45
The German Nazis under Adolf Hitler considered aged, sickly,

retarded, senile and handicapped people to be “useless eaters,”
only partly human and therefore to be killed.
Man is not a machine. He is not a random collection of cells. He is

ordained by God and given his precious life by God himself. (See
page 79 for more on what the Bible teaches about handicap or
disability.)
Pro-abortion campaigners argue: What about the life of the

mother? Is it not better to save her life?
There are very few occasions when an abortion is needed to save
the life of the mother. In such instances, the doctor’s goal will be
to save one life (the mother) rather than lose both mother and
baby by continuing the pregnancy. It is almost never a choice
between the baby and the mother. If the mother dies, the baby
most often dies too. It is better to save one life rather than to lose
two lives.
A typical example of this scenario occurs when a mother has very

high blood pressure due to a condition called pre-eclampsia. Her
blood pressure can become so dangerously high that she is in
danger of having a stroke, a seizure or severe bleeding. To save
her life, the doctor may need to remove the baby. Even in such
cases, the doctor will usually take measures that will help the baby
to survive outside the mother’s womb. He or she will usually try to
manage the mother’s blood pressure by using medicines and
procedures that may improve the chances of survival of the baby
outside of the womb.
46
Pro-abortion campaigners argue: If the mother conceived

the child because of rape or incest, is it not better to abort
the baby?
There is no doubt that the issue of pregnancy as a result of rape is
one that stirs strong emotions of anger, disgust and even hatred.
This is easy to understand. We must approach this with great
compassion. The woman has been subjected to an ugly trauma,
and she needs love, support and help.
When a woman has been raped, it is not fair to say, as I have

heard several times, “Well, the girl must have asked for it!” Or
perhaps today we hear, “It was the way she was dressed!” Nothing
can justify rape. The girl has been the victim of one violent act.
Should we now ask her to be a party to a second violent act, that
of abortion?
Pregnancy following rape is quite rare. With prompt and effective

treatment, pregnancy can be prevented in most cases. Studies
show that that the probability of pregnancy following a single
sexual act by two consenting fertile adults is 3%. In cases of rape,
this probability is further reduced by several factors.20
The pro-choice (pro-abortion) lobby sometimes uses rape more as

an excuse to appeal to the emotions of the public. Rather than
concentrating efforts on providing abortion services to rape
victims, we should try harder to provide them with prompt and
effective treatment. Such treatment includes measures to prevent
pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections including HIV.
47
Let us come back to the principle that the baby in the womb is
also a human being deserving protection. Is it right to execute the
child for the crime of the father? Do you kill a child because his
father is an armed robber? Even if the baby is not wanted by the
mother, is there not someone who would be willing to take that
child and love and care for him or her? The girl may be more
traumatized by the rape itself than by the pregnancy. Her
response to what has happened often depends on the love and
support of family and friends.
The girl who has been raped is old

enough to know the truth about
Is it right to execute
what she is carrying in her womb.
the child for the Will she be at peace with herself if
crime of the father? she kills the developing baby? Or will
Do you kill a child she be more at peace with herself if,
even though she became pregnant
because his father
against her will, she accepts that this
is an armed robber? is not the baby’s fault and therefore
the baby should not be killed?
Perhaps she will want to give the
baby away for adoption, but sometimes when she sees her
newborn baby, she may change her mind and want to keep the
baby. The baby is only one half belonging to the rapist. The other
half is hers.
It is possible for women to lie about how they became pregnant,

knowing that claiming it was though rape may make it easier to
get an abortion. Rape is hard to prove. In the United States, the
Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision is well known. It was this
48
historic decision that opened up the gates for abortion on

demand in the United States.
“Jane Doe,” the woman in that case, was actually a girl named
Norma McCorvey. The official court case called her “Jane Doe” to
protect her privacy. During the legal case, Norma McCorvey
claimed that she had become pregnant after being gang raped at
a circus. She did this because she believed the claim of rape would
allow her to get a legal abortion in the state of Texas. Not until
fourteen years later, in 1987, did Norma McCorvey admit that the
baby was actually conceived “through what I thought was love.”21
She was not raped at all.
Often, the main complaint of a woman who has become pregnant

as a result of rape is how others treat her, rather than the fact
that she is pregnant. Let us accept, love and generously care for
those pregnant as a result of rape.
What if the woman who has been raped feels that she cannot care
for her child? We must let these women and girls know that it is
alright to feel like this. Those feelings do not mean the baby is
unwanted. There are many arms outstretched and longing for a
child to love.
When a women or girl goes to hospital immediately after a

rape, what happens?
After a rape, it is very important that the victim go to the hospital
immediately. As much as possible, she should avoid actions such
as bathing that may tamper with the evidence of the crime. At
the hospital, a thorough examination and tests are done. When
49
available, some of the tests may help to identify the man involved
and assist in securing justice for the victim. More importantly
however, medical care may be necessary to prevent pregnancy
and infections including HIV.
In preventing pregnancy, the women may be given a drug which

is essentially a high dose of hormones (called the morning-after
pill). These hormones aim to prevent pregnancy by stopping
ovulation (releasing of the egg) from occurring.
Some doctors may also use an intrauterine contraceptive device

(IUCD) as an emergency contraceptive. There are concerns that
the IUCD may actually cause an abortion, although the exact
mechanism of action of IUCD is still not completely clear.
In some rare cases, fertilisation may have occurred before the

victim is seen by a doctor. Once fertilisation has occurred, a new
life has begun. Since some of the methods of preventing preg-
nancy may indeed act by inducing an early abortion, it is very
important to get to hospital immediately.
Another reason for getting to the hospital in time is to enable the

woman to receive drugs to prevent HIV (called post-exposure
prophylaxis). These drugs are most useful for preventing HIV
when given within the first 24 hours after the rape, but can be
given later than 24 hours after the incident.
50
“We did not tell them it was a baby!”
By a nurse
“The women are never allowed to look at the ultrasound (the

scanner which clearly shows the baby’s features) because we
know that if they so much as heard the heartbeat, they would not
want to have an abortion.”
“Every woman has these same two questions: First, ‘Is it a baby?’
‘No,’ the counsellor assures her. ‘It is a product of conception (or a
blood clot, or a piece of tissue) . . .’
“How many women would have an abortion if they told them the
truth?”
“Sometimes we lied. A girl might ask what her baby was like at a
certain point in the pregnancy: ‘Is it a baby yet?’ Even as early as
12 weeks we know that a baby is totally formed, he has
fingerprints, turns his head, fans his toes, feels pain. But we would
say, ‘It is not a baby yet. It is only tissue, like a clot.’”
51
“I guess you got it all!”
By a medical student
I can remember the doctor sitting down, putting the tube in, and
removing the contents. I saw the bloody material coming down the
plastic tube, and it went into a big jar. My job afterwards was to
remove the jar and see what was inside.
I did not have any views on abortion. I was in a training program,

and this was a brand new experience. I was going to be allowed to
see a new procedure and learn. I opened the jar. The resident
doctor said “Now put it on the blue towel and check it is all there.
We want to see if we got it all.”
I thought, “that will be exciting, hands-on experience looking at

tissue.” I opened the jar and put it on the towel, and there were
parts of a person in there.
I had taken anatomy, I was a medical student, I knew what I was

looking at. There was a little shoulder blade and an arm. I saw
some ribs and a chest, and a little tiny head. I saw a piece of a leg,
a tiny hand and an arm, and you know, it was like somebody put a
hot poker into me.
I had a conscience and it hurt. Well, I checked it out and there

were two arms and two legs and one head and so forth, and I
turned and said “I guess you got it all.” That was a very hard
experience to go through emotionally.
52
“Then I knew what I had done!”
By a student doctor
Following [the doctor’s] directions, I took the collection bottle and

poured its contents into a shallow pan. Then I used water to rinse
off the blood and smaller particles which clouded the bottom of the
pan.
“Now look closely,” the doctor said. “It is important that we have got
all the stuff out.” I looked in the pan to find that the stuff consisted
of the remains of what had been, a few minutes before, a living,
thirteen week old foetus. I could make out the remains of arms and
legs and a trunk and a skull. I tried to piece them back together in
my mind, to see if there were any missing parts. Most of the pieces
were so battered and bloody they were not recognizably human.
Then my eyes locked upon a perfect little hand, less than half a
centimetre long. I stared at four tiny fingers and a tiny thumb,
complete with tiny translucent fingers.
Then I knew what I had done.
I had taken the life of a baby.
53
CHAPTER FIVE :
THE LESSONS OF HISTORY

History can teach us much if we are wise enough to let it do so.
You may have heard it said, “those who do not learn from the
past are doomed to repeat it.” Let us look at some of the incidents
in history when some human lives were counted as inferior or
less valuable than others. These incidents can teach us something
important.
Down through history there are many examples of one group of

people treating another group as less than human.
The Native Americans

When America was colonised by Euro-
peans, the Native Americans (some-
times called American Indians) were
often treated like savages. Their homes
were taken away. The Native Ameri-
can’s bows and arrows and spears never
had a chance against the guns of the
colonisers. After many had died, the
small numbers remaining were segrega-
ted to areas of land called “reservations.”
This treatment was very wicked. Some of us who look back on

American history wonder how this could have happened. Yet,
The lessons of history
most people who were involved at the time thought that it was
“OK.” The thinking was that the Native Americans were
uncivilized “savages” and, as such, they were “less than human.”
They were seen as “different.” That was how the invaders
justified their mistreatment. It was convenient to get rid of them
and take over their land.
The slave trade

As the colonies grew in North America, so the trans-Atlantic slave
trade also grew. In Africa, slave traders bought Africans from
other Africans who cooperated in
selling their neighbours. The slaves
were forced into ships and brought to
America and the West Indies to
provide cheap, forced labour in cotton
and sugar plantations. The conditions
in the slave ships were horrible, and
many died on the way.
The slaves who did arrive in America were sold like cattle to work
in the fields. They did not receive education, they lost their
culture, and their human dignity was taken away. Many slave-
owners treated slaves cruelly, with no concern for their
humanity.
Many of us look back and wonder how could it have happened?

Slavery has existed in most societies from ancient times. Arabs
and Africans, for instance, have made great profits from selling
Africans to be slaves in neighbouring African states as well as in
55
North Africa, and the Middle East. Nevertheless, how could

Christians justify exploiting, mistreating, and even killing other
human beings? How could even church leaders defend the
practice? It seems unthinkable to many of us today, yet it was
done very easily.
Cruel men hardened their hearts and made money from the
practice. Most people who were involved at the time thought that
it was “OK.” They thought the Africans were “inferior savages”
and “less than human.” That was how their horrible mistreat-
ment was justified.
The mass murders by the Nazis

Not so long ago, in Germany during World War II (1939–1945),
56
Hitler led his Nazi party to kill more than six million Jewish men,
women, and children, as well as many of the Roma people, those
who were physically or mentally disabled, and homosexuals.
Although the top Nazi leaders cleverly hid the killings from the
public, everyone knew that the Jews, and the others, were being
mistreated, and many Germans, especially among the Nazis
themselves, did know about the killings. Many tried to deceive
themselves into believing it was not happening.
Today we call this nightmare “the Jewish Holocaust.” How could

this have happened in a “civilised” country? Once again, many of
those involved at the time thought that it was necessary and
acceptable. Over many years, in not only Germany but also
elsewhere, many people had accepted the lie that the Jews, and
the others, were inferior. The Nazis used this lie to stir up hatred,
blaming the Jews for all kinds of problems, and teaching that they
were less than human.
Eventually the Nazis declared that the Jews were a great evil in
the world, and that the “final solution” must be to kill them all.
Many Germans by then believed the lie that the Jews were
wicked, sub-human, and unworthy of justice. Though some
Germans objected, few were willing to risk their lives by standing
against the powerful government. As a result, six million or more
people were systematically killed. It was not a mass killing by
wild men: the Nazis took great care to plan and record their
actions. They were proud of their “accomplishment” toward the
“final solution.”
57
Rwanda
Before the Rwandan genocide of 1994, the extreme Hutu faction
began a program to stir up
hatred against the Tutsis.
Like the Nazi’s, these
extremists began teaching
that these other people were
the source of evil, and were
inhuman, just
“cockroaches.” When the time was right, their hate radio began
urging all Hutus to kill “the cockroaches.” In a few days, Hutu
mobs, many of whom were neighbours of the Tutsis, slaughtered
about 800,000 Tutsis, along with many moderate Hutus who
opposed the violence.
The Hutus killed the Tutsis believing that they were somehow
“inferior” and “less than human.” That is how their killing was
justified. More recently, the same kind of killing has been
happening in Darfur in Western Sudan, and the world seems
unwilling or powerless to respond.
When we look back on these, and similar evils, we may be

shocked that anyone could have justified such crimes against
humanity. Some of us comfort ourselves by thinking that nothing
like this could happen today in our “enlightened and educated”
society.
Are we so blind and deceived that we do not see that this killing is
happening again through abortion? This time it is happening to a
58
group of human beings who cannot even speak for themselves.

The victims are a group so weak and innocent that they do not
have a chance of defending themselves.
History repeats itself: we kill and allow the killing of unborn

babies. Millions have died. Those involved in the killing believe
this is acceptable. They assume that unborn children are
“inferior” and “less than human,” only “a foetus.” That is the
main reason that their murder is justified and that the killings
continue in Africa and elsewhere. Today men are getting rich
from killing babies who should have the right to life and ought to
be protected in what should be the safest place in the world, their
mother’s womb.
Christian voices against abortion

Many Christians oppose abortion, especially Christians who take
the Bible as the foundation of what to believe and how to live. In
this book, we will examine what the Bible teaches about abortion.
For those in the Roman Catholic faith, Pope Benedict XVI has
given clear guidance:
“Abortion is a crime of aggression not only against the unborn,

but also against society. Children have the right to be born and
to grow in the midst of a family. It is necessary to help all
people to be aware that the intrinsic evil of the crime of
abortion, which attacks human life at its beginning, is also an
aggression against society itself. Legalized abortion has laid
the groundwork for acceptance of the destruction of embryos
in scientific research. The result is that human life is reduced
59
“to an object or a mere instrument. When it reaches this level,

society itself suffers and its foundations shake, with all classes
at risk.”22
Referring to Africa he said
“While the understanding of Christian family life finds a deep

resonance in Africa, it is a matter of great concern that the
globalized secular culture is exerting an increasing influence
on local communities as a result of campaigns by agencies
promoting abortion. This direct destruction of an innocent
human life can never be justified, however difficult the
circumstances that may lead some to consider taking such a
grave step. When you preach the Gospel of Life, remind your
people that the right to life of every innocent human being,
born or unborn, is absolute and applies equally to all people.
This equality "is the basis of all authentic social relationships
which, to be truly such, can only be founded on truth and
justice" (Evangelium Vitae, 57). The Catholic community must
offer support to those women who may find it difficult to accept
a child, above all when they are isolated from their family and
friends. Likewise, the community should be open to welcome
back all who repent of having participated in the grave sin of
abortion, and should guide them with pastoral charity to accept
the grace of forgiveness, the need for penance, and the joy of
entering once more into the new life of Christ.”23
During some of my time in Nigeria, I have worked at Evangel

Hospital in Jos. The Pro-Life Evangel organisation there is
challenging abortion through word and deed. They are providing
women and girls with positive, practical alternatives to abortion.
60
They are also speaking and teaching how God’s truth requires the
protection of unborn children.
Leaders and pastors of all churches, perhaps as a result of reading

this book, should likewise begin speaking out on this very
important issue. They should offer distressed women and girls
the help they need to save the lives of their babies.
Muslim voices against abortion

Alhaji Yusmus Yusuff, a chief Muslim imam in Lagos, believes
anyone who aborts a child should be punished the same as a
murderer. He has quoted the Qur’an, “kill not your children for
fear of what the Lord shall provide, sustain them as well as the
mother. Verily the killing of them is a great sin” (Sura 17, verse
31).
Iman Quamarudeen Saidulah, citing the Qur’an, said, “One must

not kill the child inside the belly, and anybody who does that
commits great sin. Don’t kill because of fear of poverty, because
Gods says he is the one that takes care of both the mother and the
foetus. But if [you] kill the child you must ensure a query before
God.”24
The European Council for Fatwa and Research says, “Indeed,

abortion is forbidden in Islam whether it be in the earlier stages
of pregnancy or otherwise.”25 However, not all schools of Islamic
law have a prohibition on abortion in the first 120 days of life.
61
Feminist voices for and against abortion

The strongest voices in favour of abortion come from the so-
called “women’s rights” movement. Many people in that
movement would call themselves feminists. They say they are
campaigning for the rights of women, but they ignore the rights
of the child in the womb, half of whom are baby girls.
Perhaps the greatest “success” of these feminists over years of

campaigning has been to convince people who do not know
better that the unborn child is only part of the mother’s body.
They often speak of the unborn child as a “lump of jelly” and a
“collection of cells.” This makes it seem that having an abortion is
no different to removing an appendix or a growth in the body.
This lie has led many to believe that we who oppose abortion are
creating a controversy over nothing. Such mistaken opinions
about life before birth fly in the face of everything we now know
about the child before birth.
And yet, I have met other feminists who oppose abortion. They
see abortion as killing their sisters, baby girls who deserve
protection. In China there has been a growing concern that many
Chinese men will not find wives because Chinese parents, allowed
to have only one child, are selectively aborting baby girls in
favour of having a boy. This also happens in India.
Some feminists have realised that the pressure to abort a baby

often comes from men, and that women are exploited by abortion
while men take little responsibility for their actions.
62
Atheist voices against abortion

Many people who have no belief in God, once they understand
the amazing development of the baby in the womb, will also
speak against abortion. It is not a merely religious conviction but
one based on the medical knowledge that the baby is a separate
human being. In an magazine interview, prominent atheist
Christopher Hitchens said that he was pro-life and against
abortion because the child in the womb is not just a “growth” but
an unborn child, deserving of human rights.26
The Hippocratic oath

The famous Hippocratic Oath, developed by the ancient Greeks
over two thousand years ago, has governed for centuries the
practice of medical doctors all over the world. It includes a
specific ban on abortion. When a doctor promises to keep the
Hippocratic Oath, he promises not to perform an abortion. 1
One of Us
The heart of the case against abortion is that, before he or she is
born, the child is still a child. That means that, right from the
start of that child’s life, he or she is one of us and deserves the
same protection and respect which we give to every other human
life.
1
“I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability
and my judgment and never do harm to anyone. I will not give a lethal drug to
anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan; and similarly I will not give a
woman a pessary to cause an abortion.”
63
CHAPTER SIX :
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT

ABORTION?
Although the case against abortion is not limited to religious
arguments, as Christians the Bible is our only basis of faith and
practice. Unfortunately, many people who claim to be Christians
are influenced by the world’s thinking more than by biblical
principles. Some of them support abortion. Professor Samuel
Waje Kunhiyop says of this kind of thinking:
They do not see truth as a fixed thing but live their lives trying
to make what they see as the best decisions in every circum-
stance with no firm foundation for each decision. This is called
“situational ethics.” But situational ethics can be very danger-
ous. In other words, what works or satisfies (pragmatism) is
acceptable and that there is nothing absolutely right or wrong
or universally binding (relativism). These are the presupposi-
tions of situational ethics.27
Wanted or unwanted?
The woman who is happy to be pregnant talks freely about her
“baby” and what it is doing in her womb day by day. The woman
who does not want her baby may not even mention her
pregnancy, or may describe the new life inside her as a “foetus”
or even a “thing.” Have you ever noticed that?
Does abortion have risks?
How we see the unborn baby in the womb and how we talk about
him or her often depends on whether that baby is “wanted” or
“unwanted.” In truth, there are very few, if any, unwanted babies.
Someone wants the baby—someone who is not able to have a baby
or even someone who has a lot of love to give to another child
alongside their own children.
If the baby is wanted by the mother, she often talks about the
baby growing, developing and kicking. She carries her pregnancy
with pride. In some cultures she may even name her baby in the
womb. She may be delighted to have a sonogram scan done to
find out whether the baby is a boy or a girl. If a miscarriage
happens, some parents may have a funeral service for their baby
knowing that he or she is a precious life in God’s sight.
If the baby is not wanted, the woman or girl often does not
mention the pregnancy. She may deny what she feels and may
refuse to see the baby in the womb as a person. She may simply
want to rid herself of this “thing” that is causing problems in her
life. The doctor who does the abortion will call the baby an
“embryo” or a “foetus” or even “products of conception” and will
not speak of a “baby” as he does not want to upset the woman. He
may also find that his own conscience is easier to deal with when
a baby is not mentioned.
Confusing language
People who encourage abortion to solve “unwanted” pregnancies
avoid talk about killing a baby. They will talk about “termination
of pregnancy,” or even “interruption of pregnancy,” as if
65
pregnancy was something that can be stopped and then started

again when the time is “appropriate.”
The phrase “interrupting a pregnancy” makes me think of a piece

of knitting or sewing that I stop for a while when someone comes
to visit and then pick up again when I wish. Abortion is not as
simple as that. God’s giving of life and then the destruction of
that precious life is not as simple as interrupting a piece of
knitting or sewing!
The pro-abortion lobby may even use phrases like “emptying of

the uterine contents,” or “evacuation of the uterus” (womb).
With all of this confusing language, it is important for Christians
to turn to the only authority that we can rely on, the Bible. The
Bible must set our standard and to guide our thinking about the
status of the unborn baby. What scripture teaches must be the
basis of our beliefs and actions.
The Bible does not directly mention the word abortion, but there
is no doubt of what the Bible teaches about the sacredness of life
in the womb before birth and outside the womb, after birth.
1. The Bible teaches us that all human life is precious and

valuable to God
God makes clear in the first book of the Bible, Genesis, that
human life is very different from animal or plant life.
God said, “Let us make man in our own image, in our likeness,
and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of
the air, over the livestock, over all the earth and over all the
creatures that move along the ground” (Gen.1:26).
66
The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a
living being (Gen. 2:7).
For your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting; I will

demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man
too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man.
Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be
shed; for in the image of God has God made man (Gen. 9:5-6).
Bearing the image of God is what makes any man or woman

special, what makes him different from animals. Every man and
woman bears the “image of God.” He or she is God’s “image
bearer.”
Men or women are not just special because of their abilities. One
of the main ideas behind this “image of God” is relationship.
Animals do not have the relationship to God that man has.
Everywhere in the world, uniquely human beings seek to worship
and serve a god, even if they do not know the one true God of the
Bible. God affirms the existence of the special relationship of man
and his Maker, whether or not an individual has the ability to
respond to that relationship.
2. The Bible teaches that God is the One Who “opens and
closes the womb” and decides when children will be born
We read that the Lord closed Sarah’s womb and Rachel’s womb
(Gen. 20:18; 30:22), but opened Leah’s and Hannah’s wombs (Gen.
29:31, 1 Sam. 1:5–6).
67
In Hannah’s distraught prayer to God when she was barren, she

confesses, “the Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings
down to the grave and raises up” (1 Sam. 1: 5–6).
In the same vein, when God lists punishments for Israel through
the prophet Hosea, he says “Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a
bird; no birth, no pregnancy, no conception” (Hos. 9:11).
In Deuteronomy, we learn one of the blessings of obedience will

be “in the fruit of your womb” (Deut. 28:11).
When Ruth conceived, we read that it was the Lord “enabled her
to conceive” (Ruth 4:13). This truth is again clear in Psalm 113:9,
God “settles the barren woman in her home as the happy mother
of children.” We read, “Sons are a heritage from the Lord,
children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are sons born in one’s youth” (Ps. 127:3–4).
3. The Bible teaches us that every human life is a continuity

from conception to death and that God knows us intimately
even before we are born
The only logical place for all of human life to begin is at the
moment of conception. I will explain conception from a scientific
perspective later in the book, but basically it is the point when
you started to be you, the point when your life began.
Again and again, the Bible describes pregnant women as being

“with child,” the same word as is used for babies after they are
born. Gen. 16:11; 1 Sam. 4:19; 2 Sam. 11:5; 2 Kings 15:16; Eccl. 11:5;
Isaiah 26:17–18; Jer. 31:8; Hos. 13:16; Amos 1:13; Matt. 1:18,23;
24:19; Mark 13:17; Luke 2:5; 21:23; 1 Thess. 5:3; Rev. 12:2.
68
Old Testament teaching about life in the womb

The Old Testament stresses the fact that God creates human
beings right from the moment of conception, that this amazing
conception is a precious gift from God, and that God is involved in
making the child in the womb.
Samson’s mother was forbidden to take wine during her

pregnancy as Samson was to be a Nazarite who was not allowed
to have wine (Judges 13:7). Wine was to be kept from him not
only after he was born but also before he was born.
One of the Old Testament passages showing most clearly that

human life continues from conception is from the psalmist David:
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in

my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and
wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full
well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in
the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of
the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body (Psalm 139:13–
16a).
Here David shows us three things:
• God is involved in our growth inside our mother’s womb.

He is the one who puts us together. He knits and weaves
us together in the dark place of the womb where no one
else sees us.
• There is a continuity of our lives before as well as after
birth. We did not just come to life when we came on that
hard journey into the daylight on the day of our birth.
69
No, we were alive and well before that. Yes, we were

dependent on our mother for food and oxygen, but that
does not mean that we were not fully human. Even after
birth, it is many years before a young child is truly
independent, needing no one to feed and care for him or
her.
• Before birth, we had a special relationship with God. God
was the one in action before our birth. God’s eyes saw our
unformed bodies. He was the creator “fearfully and
wonderfully” making us, and he continues that action
after birth.
Elsewhere in the Psalms, David even says that our sinful nature is
present right from the moment of conception (Ps 51:5). The
doctrine of original sin taught in Scripture says that every human
being has a bias towards doing the wrong thing, or has a sinful
nature. You do not have to teach a young child to do the wrong
thing. He does wrong things by nature, which is why as parents
we need to train our children. It is because of this sin that we
need a Saviour. Jesus came to pay the price for our sins when he
died for us.
David says, “Surely, I have been a sinner from birth, sinful from
the time my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:1). David confesses
that he had a sinful nature from his very conception, but unless
he was fully human at that point, how could he have a sinful
nature?
70
In another Psalm we see that God is involved in the details of

creation in the womb. We read, “Does he who implanted the ear
not hear? Does he who formed the eye not see?” (Psalm 94:9).
Conception, the point where our mother became pregnant, is the
point when you and I started to be human.
God teaches Israel how he has been caring for them since
conception and will continue to care all the way through life.
Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain of the

house of Israel, you whom I have upheld since you were
conceived, and have carried since your birth. Even to your old
age and grey hairs I am he, I am he
who will sustain you. I have made
you and I will carry you; I will
sustain you and I will rescue you
(Isa 46:4).
The Old Testament prophet

Jeremiah, at one sad and depressed
point in his life, declared that he
wished he had never been born, that he
had died in the womb, instead.
May (the Lord) hear wailing in the morning, a battle cry at

noon. For he did not kill me in the womb, with my mother as
my grave, her womb enlarged forever. Why did I ever come
out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end my days
in shame? (Jeremiah 20:16b–18).
Jeremiah understood that his own life was in existence in the

womb, so much so that he said that he wished that God had killed
71
him in the womb. He did not say that God should have killed him
when he came out of the womb. His own life was there before he
was born and his birth was just a continuation of that life.
The Old Testament prophet Job was also very depressed at one
point in his life. He said, “Why did I not perish at birth, and die as
I came from the womb?” (Job 3:11).
We see here that Job understood that he existed before the time
of his birth, or he would not have used the pronoun “I” or said
that he should have died.
Job also asks these questions,
Why was I not hidden in the ground like a stillborn child, like an
infant who never saw the light of day? (Job 3:16).
Why then did you bring me out of the womb? I wish I had died
before any eye saw me. If only I had never come into being,
(been conceived) or had been carried straight from the womb
to the grave! (Job 10:18–19).
Again we see that Job recognized that he existed before birth. He

is also saying that either he should never have been conceived at
all, or else he should have died at birth. The stillborn child was
alive before it died.
When Job talks to God about his life he says,
Your hands shaped me and made me. . .Did you not pour me
out like milk and curdle me with cheese, clothe me with skin
and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews? (Job
10:8, 10, 11).
72
Listen to Job again as he considers God’s requirement that he act

justly towards others. He says, “Did not he who made me in the
womb make them? Did not the same One form us both within our
mothers?” (Job 31:15).
In Deuteronomy 32:18, Moses made a speech where he states that

the people of Israel had “deserted the Rock (God) who fathered
you; you forgot the God who gave you birth.”
Isaiah again emphasises that God is the one who forms us in our
mother’s womb. “This is what the Lord says, your Redeemer, who
formed you in the womb” (Isaiah 44:24).
The New Testament teaching about life in the

womb
In the New Testament we see more evidence that the Bible
teaches that human life is a continuation between conception and
death.
Doctor Luke gives us some clear evidence. As a medical doctor,

perhaps he was more interested in giving us, his readers, some of
the medical details. He did not give us these details with abortion
in mind, but they are very useful details in helping us understand
the issues surrounding abortion.
One of my favourite preachers, Pastor John Piper, has helped me

understand the importance of Luke 1 in relation to abortion and I
am sharing some of his teaching with you. The following is taken
from his sermon “The Baby in My Womb Leaped for Joy.”
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A Glimpse into the Womb (Luke 1)

The situation is that Elizabeth and Mary are both given a child in
the womb. Elizabeth becomes pregnant with John the Baptist and
Mary with Jesus. Both pregnancies are miraculous: Elizabeth’s
because she is too old and had always been barren; And Mary’s,
because she is a virgin. The Holy Spirit comes upon Mary and she
becomes pregnant with Jesus, the Son of God, who would one day
die for our sins and rise again.
Luke 1:24, “After these days [Zechariah’s] wife Elizabeth

conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden.” Then in
verse 26, Luke says, “In the sixth month [that is, the sixth month
of Elizabeth’s pregnancy] the angel Gabriel was sent from God to
a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin.” So when Mary
becomes pregnant Elizabeth is about 24 weeks along in her
pregnancy.
Nothing Impossible with God

To encourage her that her impossible pregnancy really can come
true, the angel says to Mary, “And behold, your relative Elizabeth
in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth
month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be
impossible with God.” So be encouraged, Mary, nothing is too
hard for God. Witness the pregnancy of Elizabeth. O how often in
these circumstances of pregnancy and infertility we need to be
reminded, “Nothing will be impossible with God.” He gives, he
takes, he provides in abundance, he sustains in loss.
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When the angel had gone, and Mary knew what was happening to
her, she made a beeline to Elizabeth. What a consultation this
would be: two of the most important and impossible pregnancies
in the world.
In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill
country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of
Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard
the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And
Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed
with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed
is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the
mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the
sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb
leaped for joy” (Luke 1:39–45).
Now, of course, none of this is being written with abortion in

mind. That’s not the point. The point is: How did texts like these
shape the way the church thought about the unborn? What were
the assumptions here and the implications here?
Notice two things.
1. The Word Baby

First, the word baby in verses 41 and 44. Verse 41: “And when
Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her
womb.” Verse 44: “For behold, when the sound of your greeting
came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.” That word
baby is not a specialized word for the unborn. It has no
connotations of “embryo” or “foetus.” It is the ordinary word for
baby (Greek brefos). And what makes this crystal clear and
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significant is the way it’s used in Luke 2:16. Here in Luke 1, it

refers to John the Baptist in the womb. In Luke 2, it refers to Jesus
in the manger. Luke 2:16: “And they went with haste and found
Mary and Joseph, and the baby (brefos) lying in a manger.” This is
exactly the same word for baby.
What the Christian church has seen in this is that what the
persons Jesus and John were outside the womb they were already
inside the womb. Jesus was the God-man in Mary’s womb. When
the Holy Spirit (according to Luke 1:35) caused Mary to be
pregnant, she was not pregnant with anything less than the Son
of God. The baby inside was the same as the baby outside.
Today science has only made that easier to believe, not harder.
Ultrasound technology has given a stunning window on the
womb that shows the unborn at eight weeks sucking his thumb,
recoiling from pricking, responding to sound. All the organs are
present, the brain is functioning, the heart is pumping, the liver
is making blood cells, the kidneys are cleaning fluids, and there is
a fingerprint. Yet virtually all abortions happen later in the
pregnancy than this date.
2. Treated as a Person
The second thing to notice here in Luke 1 is the way the baby in
Elizabeth’s womb responded to Mary who was carrying the Son of
God. Verse 41: “When Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby
leaped in her womb.” Then in verse 44, Elizabeth interprets that
leap like this: “Behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my
ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.” And Luke says that
Elizabeth said this because she was filled with the Holy Spirit.
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Verses 41–42: “Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she
exclaimed…” In other words, the Holy Spirit prompted her to say
that this leap of the baby in her womb was a leap of joy.
To increase the significance of that leap even more, consider

what an angel said to Elizabeth’s husband Zechariah before his
son was conceived. In Luke 1:14–15, the angel said, “And you will
have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be
great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and
he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.” So
that leap is not only a leap of joy but a leap of Holy-Spirit-
inspired joy.
Only Persons Are Filled with the Spirit

What shall we make of this? Never in the Bible is any animal said
to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Never does the Bible say that a
person’s arm or leg or kidney or skin is filled with the Spirit.
Tissue is not filled with the Holy Spirit. Only persons are filled
with the Spirit.
What Luke is doing—and he is doing it as the spokesman of

Christ—is treating this child in the womb as a person. He uses the
word baby which he later uses for Jesus in the manger. He uses
the word joy, which is what persons feel. He uses the phrase
“filled with the Spirit” which is what God does to persons. He
simply assumes he is dealing with a human person in the womb.28
John Piper
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When we repeat the Apostles’ Creed, we say something that we

find taught in Matthew 1:20: we say, “I believe in Jesus Christ,
God’s only son, our Lord, who was conceived of the Holy Ghost,
born of the Virgin Mary.” This is confirmed by Matthew 1:20 and
also by Luke. Both tell us that Mary conceived Jesus Christ when
the Holy Spirit “came upon her” and the “power of the Most High
overshadowed her” (Luke 1:3). Who was conceived? Jesus Christ,
God’s only son. Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, but that was
only the public event showing what happened in private nine
months earlier when the angel Gabriel visited Mary. Jesus Christ
did not become adopted as God’s son at some later date. He was
God’s son in heaven, and at conception He became God’s son on
earth.
In both the Old and New Testaments, there are many examples of
family lines being detailed where the scripture reads that one
man “begat” or became the father to another, and then he in turn
“begat” or became the father to another man. When the child in
the womb came into existence at conception, the man who
caused that conception was already a father at that point. Men do
not become fathers when a baby is born, but when they make a
woman or girl pregnant.
4. The Bible forbids the taking of innocent human life

Human life is not like animal life. It is sacred. God laid down a
principle to Noah: “Whoever sheds the blood of man by man shall
his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man”
(Gen. 9:6).
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The sixth commandment is “You shall not murder” (Ex.20:13). If

the Bible forbids the taking of innocent human life and we know
that human life begins at conception, the Bible also forbids
abortion which is the deliberate taking of innocent human life.
5. The Bible teaches us that we should give special care to the

weak and the handicapped
In much of the western world, with advanced science, doctors can
often tell whether a baby has a
handicap or disability. If it does, they
may offer an abortion. The mother Defend the cause of
may choose an abortion if she does
not want a “less than perfect” baby.
the weak and
The tests used to search for fatherless;
handicaps and disabilities include maintain the rights
blood tests, sonogram scans, and a
of the poor and
procedure called amniocentesis. (The
last is done by taking fluid from oppressed.
around the baby via a needle Psalm 82:3
piercing through the abdominal wall
into the womb. The procedure itself
creates risk to the baby and may even hasten premature labour.)
But does God give us the right to end a child’s life because it is
less than perfect? Are any of us perfect? Do not all of us have
some imperfections that we live with?
We are called as Christians to be like God, to be holy as he is holy,

and to be changed into the image of his Son, Jesus Christ (1 Peter
1:16, Rom. 8:29). Throughout the Bible, it is clear that God is
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concerned to defend the weak and helpless from those who want
to harm or misuse them (Deut. 16:11-12, Amos 1:13). We find the
Lord Jesus going about healing the sick and handicapped and
ministering to the neediest of society. He is the model for every
Christian, but particularly those in the medical profession.
Abortion turns the whole practice of medicine on its head and

leads us back to the pagan ways of the medicine men, or
sorcerers, who destroy life. This is condemned in Galatians 5:20
and Revelation 21:8; 22:15. Jesus came to bring healing and life
(John 10:10).
Men or women who kill unborn babies for a fee are to be rejected
today. Unborn children are the weakest, most helpless, most
defenceless members of our society. If our lives are as God wants
them to be, we must be willing to rescue these little ones from
death (Psalm 82:3, 4).
We hear some people say that they do not want abortion to

happen or be allowed for social reasons, but they still are happy
and even promote abortion for babies who are discovered or
suspected to be suffering from some degree of physical and
mental disability. Sometimes we use the words “physically or
mentally challenged.” Surely the Christian response is not killing
but caring, for these reasons:
The child with the physical or mental disability is still a human being
and valuable in God’s eyes. God makes the handicapped child as well
as the child without an obvious handicap. Whenever Moses
complained to God about his disabilities God answered him this
way. “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or dumb?
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Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord?”
(Ex. 4:11).
God is especially interested in the welfare of the person with a disability.

There are warnings of severe punishments laid down in the Old
Testament for those who exploit the disabled person.
Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the

blind, but fear your God. I am the Lord (Lev. 19:14).
Cursed is the man who leads the blind astray on the road.
(Deut. 27:18).
When God promised the coming of Jesus Christ, part of that

promise was that he would restore those with a disability.
Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the
deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer and the
tongue of the dumb shout for joy (Isa. 35:5–6).
We saw Jesus do this when he was here on earth. Today he still

does miracles, and when Jesus returns again to reign, there will
be no more sorrow or handicap.
To despise and reject the person with a physical or mental disability is to

go contrary to the mind and will of Christ. In his own suffering,
humiliation and death on our behalf, Jesus actually identified
himself with the deformed and disabled.
His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and

his form marred beyond human likeness. (Isaiah 52:14).
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As Christians, leaders in the church or in our families we have a

big responsibility to warn against abortion of those who are
disabled in any way. Many families are facing large burdens in
caring for disabled members of their families. Christians must be
there to offer real practical help, as well as pointing people to
God’s help and grace to cope with difficult circumstances.
6. The Bible teaches that God welcomes the birth of children,

all children, regardless of circumstances
We are familiar with how often in the Bible God encourages his
people to be fruitful and multiply (for example, Gen. 1:28; 8:17;
9:1, 7; 35:11). In 1 Tim. 5:14, Paul encourages younger widows to
marry and have children. It is clear that all children, regardless of
the circumstances, are a blessing. All children, regardless of
circumstances, are his gifts.
In chastising King David for his adulterous affair and subsequent

murder of Bathsheba’s husband, God took the life of the baby
through illness. Many today would be pleased to have such an
escape route. Yet David, despite his sin of adultery, fasted seven
days before God in the hope that his infant would live. David
knew that the infant, though conceived in adultery, was a
precious gift from God.
God alone claims absolute sovereignty and right

over life and death.
God is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything,
because he himself gives all men life and breath and
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everything else. For in him we live and move and have our
being (Acts 17:25–26).
As stated earlier, to take the life of the unborn is a violation of

Exodus 20:13. It is murder. In fact, the case laws in Exodus address
abortion in a way.
If men strive (fight), and hurt a woman with child, so that her
fruit departs from her (she gives birth prematurely), and yet no
mischief follow (the baby is not harmed): he shall be surely
punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon
him; and he shall pay as the judges determine (a fine). And if
any mischief follow (the baby dies), then you shall give life for
life (Exodus 21:22–23).
In this scripture there is a fight and a pregnant woman is injured
so that she gives birth prematurely. The guilty one is punished
either way it goes, but if the baby dies he faces the penalty for
murder. This seems clear to me: God considers the unborn infant
to be “life” and to kill it murder.
The early church’s teaching on abortion

Until recently, there never has been any doubt in the mind of the
Christian church that such killing is wrong. The Didache and the
Epistle of Barnabas date from the beginning of the second century
and are among the earliest sources for Christian thinking outside
the New Testament. Both forbid abortion.
You shall do no murder, you shall not commit adultery, you

shall not corrupt boys, you shall not commit fornication, you
shall not steal, you shall not deal in magic, you shall do no
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sorcery, you shall not murder a child by abortion nor kill them
when born. (Didache 2:2; cf. Epistle of Barnabas 19:5)
Why did the early church, and all succeeding generations of
Christians, come to this conclusion—that it is forbidden to take
the life of the unborn? We have already seen the root of this
conviction: When a human life comes into existence, something
magnificent has happened—created in the image of God, to live
forever. 29
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The Children
Do you hear the children crying?
I can hear them every day,
Crying, sighing, dying, flying
Somewhere safe where they can play.
Somewhere safe from all the dangers,

Somewhere safe from crack and AIDS,
Safe from lust and lurking strangers,
Safe from war and bombing raids.
Somewhere safe from malnutrition,

Safe from daddy’s damning voice,
Safe from mommy’s cool ambition,
Safe from deadly goddess, Choice.
Do you hear the children crying?

I can hear them every day,
Crying, sighing, dying, flying
Somewhere safe where they can play.

Do you see the children meeting?
I can see them in the sky,
Meeting, eating, meeting, greeting
Jesus with the answer why.
Why the milk no longer nourished,

Why the water made them sick,
Why the crops no longer flourished,

Why the belly got so thick.
Why they never knew the reason

Friends had vanished out of sight,
Why some suffered for a season,
Others never saw the light.
Do you see the children meeting?

I can see them in the sky,
Meeting, eating, meeting, greeting
Jesus with the answer why.

Do you hear the children singing?
I can hear them high above,
Singing, springing, ringing, bringing
Glory to the God of love.
Glory for the gift of living,

Glory for the end of pain,
Glory for the gift of giving,
Glory for eternal gain.
Glory from the ones forsaken,

Glory from the lost and lone,
Glory when the infants waken,
Orphans on the Father’s throne
Do you hear the children singing?

I can hear them high above,
Singing, springing, ringing, bringing
Glory to the God of love.
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The Children

Do you see the children coming?
I can see them on the clouds,
Coming, strumming, drumming, humming
Songs with heaven’s happy crowds.
Songs with lots of happy clapping,

Songs that set the heart on fire,
Songs that make your foot start tapping,
Songs that make a merry choir.
Songs so loud the mountains tremble,

Songs so pure the canyons ring,
When the children all assemble
Millions, millions, round the King.
Do you see the children coming?

I can see them on the clouds,
Coming, strumming, drumming, humming
Songs with heaven’s happy crowds.

Do you see the children waiting?
I can see them all aglow
Waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting,
Who of us will rise and go?
Will we turn and fly to meet them

Will we venture something new?
I intend to rise and greet them.
Come and go with me, would you?30
Pastor John Piper

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CHAPTER SEVEN :
IS THE UNBORN BABY IN THE WOMB

REALLY A HUMAN BEING?
We have already looked at the biblical evidence that God sees the
baby in the womb as precious and deserving our protection. But
what are the scientific facts about the baby in the womb?
One reason many women go for an abortion, or do not care that

others have abortions, is that they do not know the wonderful
story of the baby growing inside the shelter of the mother’s
womb. Every abortion stops a beating heart.
The growth and development of the unborn baby

Maybe you do not know how quickly a baby develops in the
womb. When an abortion is done, what is removed from the
womb is not “a blob of jelly” or a “piece of tissue” but a human
life. Often women are not counselled and given correct infor-
mation about the humanity of the baby or the physical and
mental risks of having an abortion. Women who “choose” to have
an abortion are often not given the opportunity to make a truly
informed choice based on a range of options.
I know a girl who was thinking about having an abortion. Her

boyfriend went with her to see the doctor, who was willing to do
Is the Unborn Baby in the Womb Really a Human Being?
the abortion. To see what age the baby was so that the doctor
could decide which method of abortion to use, the doctor decided
to do an ultrasound scan. The screen, showing the baby moving
about and the heart beating, was turned away from the mother,
but the boyfriend could see it. He turned the screen towards his
girlfriend and the moment she saw the beating heart and the
baby moving around, she decided not to have the abortion.
Note about counting the weeks of pregnancy: The length of the

pregnancy is often counted from the first day of the woman’s last
menses. By this measure, a normal pregnancy lasts for 40 weeks.
Now, conception takes place about 14 days after the first day of
the woman’s last menstrual period, and 14 days before her next
menstrual period is due. Timing the pregnancy from the day of
conception, therefore, a normal pregnancy lasts 38 weeks. In this
description of the development of the baby, we will look at the 38
weeks in the womb counted from conception to birth.
The Miracle of Conception and Milestones of

Early Life in the Womb
At no time in your life does more growth and changes occur than
in the nine months before birth. Here are some of the amazing
milestones of that time in your life. No matter what age you are
now, your life began with conception on day one.
Day 1: Conception. Conception took place. Of the 200,000,000

sperm from your father that tried to enter the mother’s egg cell,
only one succeeded. 31
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We sometimes call this success, conception or fertilisation.

Remember that on the pregnancy time line, this conception
happened about 14 days after the first day of your mother’s last
menstrual period, flow or menses. It is a scientific fact that
conception is the point you started to be uniquely you. From that
day onwards, you grew and developed. At birth, you changed
your location, but you still continue to change and develop all
through your life.
How did conception happen?

Conception happens when the
egg and sperm meet and join.
This is also called fertilisation.
Sexual intercourse followed by
fertilisation is how all human life
begins. Your early cells multi-
plied, then moved along the
fallopian tube and landed in your mother’s womb. The womb was
the special safe place that God made for you to receive food from
your mother and to grow and grow for around nine months, until
you were ready to come out into the world.
Right from that first day, you were a human being. You can look
back to the day you were conceived and say, “That is when I
began. That is the day I started being me.” There is no other point
in time of which this is true. You were there a long time before
your mother felt you move. God knew you were there weeks
before your mother knew. Your life did not start only when you
were strong enough to live outside the womb. Even the day you
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were born was only an event in your life that began nine months
earlier. On your birthday, you did not come into being but only
changed your living place.
Do you have dimples in your cheeks? That was decided on the day
of conception. Do you have light skin or dark skin? That also was
decided that day. Do you have a gift for art, sport or music? That
was also decided the day you were conceived. These things
written into each cell of your body are sometimes called your
genetic coding.
Genetic coding is not a matter of religious faith or opinion but a

scientific fact. No one else in the whole world has the same
genetic coding (plans) as you have, unless you have an identical
twin. You are unique. God only made one of you. You do not have
the same set of finger prints as anyone else whom God created. At
that sacred moment of conception, you were not a potential
human being but an actual human being, starting a life with great
potential.
At the point of concep-

tion you were smaller
than a grain of sugar, but
the genetic instructions
were present for all you
will ever become. That is
the point when your life
began. You began.
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On that first day, your first cells soon divided into two smaller
cells. Each of these new cells divided again and again as they
travelled toward your mother’s womb in search of a protected
place to grow.32 Your life and my life began at conception.
Early Development
Day 6–14: This is the time when you first attached loosely to the
wall of your mother’s womb, then burrowed deeply and attached
yourself securely over the next week. We call this implantation.
Sensitive pregnancy tests can already be positive at this time,
depending on the level of the hormone hCG produced by the new
life in the womb.
By the end of the second week, your mother’s menstrual period

was blocked by this hCG hormone you produced.33 For many
women, the first sign of pregnancy is a missed menstrual flow.
She may say that she has not seen her menses. If she did a
pregnancy test at the time of missing her menses, it would show
that she was pregnant.34
You were only about the size of a guava seed when your mother
did not see her menses because your body signalled her body that
you were present. Is it not amazing how it is the child who
controls the mother’s body at implantation, and it is the child
who nudges the mother into labour when the nine months are
finished?
Day 17: Your blood vessels began to form.35 Remarkably, the

future sex cells that would give rise to sperm or eggs for a new
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generation (your children) were already beginning to group

together.
Day 18–20: The foundations of your brain, spinal cord, and

nervous system were laid. 36
Day 21: Your heart began to beat,37 unsurely at first, gaining

strength day by day. Your heart beat 70 times per minute at first,
reaching a maximum of 170–
190 at seven weeks, and
slowing a bit to 160–180 at 9
weeks.38 A day later your eyes
begin to develop. The earliest
stages of your ears were now
present.39
Day 26–27: Your lungs now

began to form.40 You were
now developing fast and had
become what doctors call an
embryo.
Day 28–32: Your two tiny arms made their appearance, with your
legs starting to form two days later.41 The beginnings of your
mouth took shape.42 Your nose started to develop.43 Your thyroid
gland began to grow. Blood flowed in your veins but stayed
separate from your mother’s blood. Your tongue now began to
form. Your face made its first appearance.
Day 36: Your eyes developed their first colour.
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Day 40: You made you first reflex movements. Touching the area
around your mouth with a fine bristle would cause you to flex
your neck.44
Day 41: Your fingers began to form, followed by your toes a few
days later.45
Day 42: You developed nerve connections that led to a sense of

smell. Your brain was now divided into three parts, one to
experience emotion and understand language, one for hearing
and one for seeing.46 Your joints began to form.47 Your mother
now missed her second menstrual bleeding.
Day 44: Buds of your milk teeth appeared. Facial muscles were
developing.48 Your eyelids began to form, protecting your
developing eyes. Your elbows took shape. Internal organs were
present, but immature. Nearly all your muscles were present,
each with its’ own nerve supply. Electrical activity would be
detectable in your brain by this stage.49
Day 52: You started to move spontaneously, then over the next 4
weeks developed a whole collection of moves including hiccup-
ping, frowning, squinting, furrowing your brow, pursing your
lips, moving individual arms and legs, head turning, touching
your face, breathing (without air), stretching, opening your
mouth, yawning, and sucking.50
8 Weeks: You were now well proportioned and about the size of a
thumb. Every organ was present. Your liver was making blood, your
kidneys functioned, and your heart beat steadily. Your skull,
elbows, and knees were forming. Of the 4500 structures in your
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adult body, 4000 were already

present. The skeleton of your
arms and legs and the spine
began to stiffen as bone cells
were added.51
9 Weeks: Your private parts

were forming from the 7th
week and were visible, indi-
cating whether you were a
boy or girl. However, the
doctor would not have been
able to tell your sex by ultrasound until between the 12th to 20th
week.
Morning sickness and other side effects of early pregnancy were

taking hold of your mother by this stage. Maybe your mother
found that she needed to urinate more often. She may have had
nausea and vomiting. She may have felt emotional, a bit weepy. It
was important for her not to take medicines because you were
undergoing important developments in the first 12 weeks and
medicines could have harmed you.
If your mother had an ultrasound scan at this time, it would have

shown your heart beating. Every abortion stops a beating heart.
Your head grew bigger and eyes formed under the skin of your
face. You started to move your eyes, swallow and move your
tongue. Your arms and legs were growing and looking more like
arms and legs. All your internal organs were developing and
becoming more complex. All your food came through the
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umbilical cord attached to

the inside of your mother’s
womb. That cord also
removed all the waste from
your body.
10 Weeks: Your fingernails

began to develop. Your
eyelids were joined together
until month 7, protecting
your delicate eyes.52 By this
stage you had your own set of
fingerprints unlike anyone else in the world. You still have those
same fingerprints. Apart from size, those fingerprints will not
change.
11 Weeks: You now “practiced” breathing, since you would

have to breathe air immediately after birth. You urinated. Vocal
chords and taste buds formed.53 You made complex facial
expressions and even smiled.54 You were swimming around with
delightful grace in your safe little world inside a bag of fluid in
your mother’s womb.
12 Weeks: Fine hair began to grow on your upper lip and your
chin and eyebrows.55 By the end of 12 weeks after your mother
became pregnant, you looked fully human and were about 8 cm
long, the size of a small mango. From 12 weeks until birth, all that
you had to do was grow and grow in what should be the safety of
your mother’s womb. How sad that in this very period, when
babies like you are healthy and thriving in what should be a
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perfect and usually safe

environment in their
mother’s wombs, their
lives can be taken from
them by a violent act.
13–16 Weeks: Your face

became prettier and your
facial expressions may
have already looked like
your parents’. You were
active, but your mother
didn’t feel anything yet.56
Your mother’s womb (uterus) became larger and started to rise

out of the bony ring of her pelvis. You could move your head
quite easily. In many countries, a woman at this stage of
pregnancy can be offered blood tests to look for various
abnormalities in the baby. Other problems can be found by
testing the fluid around the baby. Sadly, many babies have their
lives cut off it they are not completely healthy at this stage,
because something abnormal was found. Aborting a baby who
seems to have a disability does not prevent the disability, but
simply prevents the child with the disability from being born. In
some countries, where male children are wanted much more than
female children, many baby girls are aborted at this stage.
Growing and Maturing

4 Months: Your nostrils and toenails became visible. You may
have sucked your thumb, turned somersaults and had a firm grip.
97
If you are a girl, your ovaries

formed. You began to develop
sleeping habits. At about 4½
months, you were able to
experience pain.57
By this stage you were moving

much, probably enough to be
felt by your mother. Your
mother probably felt you
giving little kicks and moving
around. You were now about
15–20 cm long and weighed about 300 g. Your first teeth had
formed in your gums.
5–6 Months: If you are a boy, your testes descended into your
scrotum around this time. Your mother may have felt you kick,
turn or hiccup. Perhaps she could identify a bulge as an elbow or
head.58 Each side of your brain had a billion nerve cells now.
You developed a waxy white coating called vernix. If your mother

had an ultrasound scan, it would have shown you in detail and
may have shown her whether you were a baby boy or a girl. Your
mother may have felt short of breath as her womb pushed against
her chest, leaving less space for her lungs to breathe.
Your taste buds developed and you also developed the ability to
feel things. Your skeleton continued to develop and bones that
formed your skull begin to harden. Your eyelashes grew and your
eyelids began to open.
98
You were able to hear.59 You

slept and woke up again,
nestling in your favourite
positions to sleep. You
60
stretched upon waking up.
If you had been born at 24

weeks after you were
conceived and you had expert
hospital care from specialists,
you could possibly have even
survived outside of your
mother’s womb at this time. You may have had breathing
difficulties if you were born so early because your lungs were not
yet strong enough, but with expert care you might have survived.
Most likely you were not born at this time, but God let you stay in
the safety of your mother’s womb for another 6 weeks or more.
7 Months: Your eyelids began to reopen, preparing to see the

outside world. Your eyelashes were now well developed.61
Your skin became less see-through (transparent) and you

continued to grow rapidly. In many countries abortion is still
legal up to 28 weeks after conception, even though the baby can
survive outside the womb.
8 Months: The pupils in your eyes responded to light. Fingernails

reached to the tip of your fingers. You started feeling getting
cramped now. There was not much room left in your mother’s
womb.
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You could now tell light from dark. At this stage you were
probably head downwards and getting ready to come out into the
world. Your mother might have found it more difficult to eat full
meals as you were growing fast and her large womb was pressing
on her stomach.
9 Months: You may have been born towards the end of this
month. As you waited, a time came when you felt the first
squeezes of your mother’s womb. Within hours you travelled
from your warm, watery world out into an environment which
was much colder.
It was you who decided it was time for you to come out into the
world. It was in God’s plan that hormones controlled by your
placenta (after-birth) signalled that your mother’s body should go
into labour. Some babies come late, and you may have been late,
especially if you were the first baby that your mother had. You
came out into the world, and your mother was very happy.
Not until the baby has gone through all these wonderful events
during nearly nine months on the inside can we see the new child
on the outside.
If you were not a “wanted” child, know assuredly that God our
father loves you even if your mother and father rejected you.
Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not
have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, they may
forget, but I will not forget you (Isaiah 49:15).
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“It was too late”
It was a regular clinic day when Jane and her boyfriend Audu came
to see me. They looked like a couple who seemed to care for each
other, but their faces showed they were carrying big worries.
“I have not seen my menses for three months,” Jane said, “and my
pregnancy test is positive.”
I did an ultrasound scan and confirmed that Jane was in fact 13

weeks pregnant.
“Doctor we don’t want it. Can you help us?” they pleaded.
From my heart I counselled them on the benefits of keeping the

baby. I told them clearly that it was against the law in Nigeria to do
an abortion.
After an hour of talking they left me looking very dejected and

disappointed. I felt sad for this couple.
About a week later, Audu returned to see me. He was alone and
looked deeply distraught. He appeared like he had neither washed
nor slept for days.
“Doctor, I am big in trouble” he said, “I took Jane to have an

abortion. All seemed well initially but after we got back home, she
began to bleed heavily. I thought it would stop but it did not.
“I finally took her to the hospital the next day but it was too late.
She was dead when we arrived.
“Now, her parents are coming after me and I do not know what to
do.
“Doctor how can you help me?”
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CHAPTER EIGHT :
DOES ABORTION HAVE RISKS?

Women with unwanted pregnancies have turned to abortion for
centuries. Knowledge of how to do an abortion is sometimes
passed from generation to generation. The risks, costs and
consequences of these abortions are linked to the methods
chosen.
The World Health Organisation defines an unsafe abortion as the

procedure for terminating an unwanted pregnancy by persons
lacking the necessary skills, in an environment lacking the
minimum medical standards, or both.
Abortions carried out by trained health workers in standard

health facilities are generally regarded as safe for the mothers,
though all abortions are unsafe for the baby. However, this
should not be taken to mean that abortion is free from risk. The
following are some of the risks from abortion:
BLEEDING: This occurs when pieces of the baby or the placenta

(afterbirth) are not completely removed from the womb. Injury
to any of the reproductive tract organs or other nearby organs
can also cause bleeding. For example, a sharp instrument might
tear or puncture the womb or cervix. The bleeding may be
internal and thus hidden, causing a delay in diagnosis and
treatment. If bleeding is not recognised and treated early enough,
it may result in shock, disability, or death.
Does Abortion Have Risks?
INFECTION: This is one of the leading causes of death from

abortion. It may be due to the use of unsterile instruments
(instruments which are not absolutely clean). It can also happen
when parts of the baby are not completely removed from the
womb. Even in the United States, where abortion conditions may
be more sterile, legal abortion is reported as the fifth leading
cause of maternal death, though in fact it is recognized that most
abortion related deaths are not officially reported as such.62
INJURY: Different body organs can be injured during the process

of abortion:
• Injuries to the vagina can lead to problems with

menstruation and painful sexual intercourse in the
future.
• The cervix (neck of the womb) can be injured, which may
cause repeated miscarriages or difficult labour in the
future. The risk of damage to the cervix is greater for
teenagers and for abortions done after the first three
months of pregnancy.
• The uterus (womb) may also have a hole punctured in it.
This may go undiagnosed and cause problems later.
• Other organs such as the bladder and bowel may be
damaged, resulting in complications like vesico-vaginal
fistula (VVF) where a hole is accidentally made between
the vagina and the bladder or between the vagina and the
rectum. These injuries mean that the woman will leak
urine or stool through her vagina. These injuries may
require major surgeries to repair.
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ECTOPIC PREGNANCY: Abortion increases the risk of ectopic

pregnancies. This is a situation in which the baby develops
outside the uterus (womb) in other organs (usually the fallopian
tube). It is a life threatening condition that often kills women
unless they have good emergency medical treatment available.
The treatment of ectopic pregnancy may lead to infertility
(barrenness).
INFERTILITY: It is possible that after an abortion a woman may not

be able to become pregnant again. When abortions cause
infertility, it is usually due to infection. Damage to the womb and
vagina can also make women less likely to become pregnant or to
have a normal pregnancy. It is tragic to see young women marry
but then not be able to become pregnant after previously having
an abortion. Many of the infertility problems that we see are due
to sexually transmitted diseases or previous abortions.
ABSENCE OF MENSTRUATION: This usually follows severe infection

of the womb or excessive curettage (scraping out of the lining of
the womb). It is associated with infertility and may be difficult to
treat.
PLACENTA PRAEVIA: Abortion by the dilation and curettage

method (D&C) increases the risk of placenta praevia in later
pregnancies. This refers to the condition when the placenta
(afterbirth) grows too low in the womb. This can result in severe
bleeding during the pregnancy. It is a life-threatening condition
for both the mother and her wanted baby, because the mother,
baby, or both may die because of the sudden, severe bleeding.
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Does Abortion Have Risks?
PROBLEMS WITH FUTURE PREGNANCIES DUE TO RH FACTOR: When a

woman with Rh-negative blood type delivers a baby or has an
abortion or miscarriage, it is important for the doctor to know
the blood type of the baby. If the baby’s blood type is Rh-positive,
the Rh-negative woman needs to have an injection immediately
to protect her babies in future pregnancies.
If she does not get the needed treatment at the time of the
delivery, abortion or miscarriage, future pregnancies may not
develop well, future babies may be born dead, or they may have
severe jaundice (yellowness) after birth and possibly die or
become disabled. This risk applies to normal pregnancies as well
as abortion.
SUICIDE ATTEMPTS: Sometimes, as happened to a friend of mine,

the self-hate after an abortion may cause a woman or girl to
attempt suicide. An American study shows that up to 45% of
women who had an abortion thought of suicide following the
abortion.63 Women who have had an abortion are nine times
more likely to commit suicide than the general population.64 The
psychological effects of abortion are discussed more in the next
chapter.
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CHAPTER NINE :
THE MENTAL EFFECTS OF ABORTION

AND GOD’S CURE
Psychological problems
Directly after an abortion, a woman or girl may have a sense of
relief that the pregnancy has been ended and the operation is
over. But often in the days, weeks, months and years following,
other feelings come.
• Guilt and shame for what she has done.

• Numbness and sadness at the loss of the baby.
• Grief and sense of loss.
• An inner feeling of emptiness.
• Anger toward herself, the man who made her pregnant
and the person or people who made her have the
abortion.
One girl said, “No one told me that I would feel like this.” She was
not sleeping well, had lost her desire to eat, and felt she was
continuously carrying a huge burden of guilt on her shoulders.
After an abortion, women may find it difficult to be near

pregnant women or young babies or even to see baby pictures in
magazines or on the TV. They may want to talk often about their
baby. Some women have tensions in their relationships and bad
The Mental Effects of Abortion and God’s Cure
dreams or nightmares. Some women talk about wanting another

baby soon to try to take away the pain of what they have done.
They may say that they no longer feel of any worth. Some women
may attempt suicide.
Some women feel abortion is something they have come to terms

with, but others continue to feel that it is a painful part of their
lives, something that affects them deeply, even though they felt
they were making the right decision at the time.
If you are reading this and you had an

abortion recently or long ago, you may have
felt relief at first but may now feel numb or
may be experiencing emotions like guilt,
grief or anger. Coupled with that, you may
also find it difficult to be near other babies
or pregnant women. You may find it hard
to sleep without having disturbing dreams.
You may be preoccupied with the whole
experience. These kinds of feelings are common following an
abortion.
In recent years, some doctors have come to recognized a

condition called post-abortion syndrome (PAS). The American
Psychiatric Association lists abortion as a stressor event that can
trigger post-traumatic stress disorder. The women or girls who
have had an abortion can be so affected by the abortion that they
carry burdens of guilt, denial and depression.
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PAS has been recognised as a distinct set of symptoms. As well as

the post-abortion symptoms listed above, you may have
experienced other symptoms such as:
• Feeling the need to “replace” the baby.

• A feeling of distance from your existing children
• Over-protectiveness of your existing children.
• Inability to maintain normal routine.
• Depressed feelings stronger than a little sadness.
• Sleeping problems.
• Flashbacks.
• Tearfulness.
• Relationship tensions or breakdown resulting from the
abortion.
What can you do if you feel like this?
You can talk to a trusted friend. You can get counselling from
your pastor. You can pray. All of these will help but they will not
provide a lasting solution. Your heart needs a permanent
solution.
Only God can heal your hurts. God loves you. He longs to see you
healed and whole. God’s word, the Bible, tells you how to resolve
your hurts permanently and completely. God wants to take your
guilt, grief, and pain and remove them from your life forever. God
will begin the healing right now if you ask Him.
Below are six steps to help get your life turned around and
headed in the right direction again.
108
1. Admit you did something wrong when you had an abortion.

You may find this first step difficult. Perhaps your family, even
your mother, and your friends talked you into it. Perhaps you
were young and scared and an older boyfriend arranged it all for
you. Perhaps at the time you thought it was not a serious issue.
Even the doctor and nurses reassured you that it was a good
decision. But God, who loves you, says that you did something
wrong. God calls what we do wrong “sin.” Healing begins when
you admit that your abortion ended the life of your unborn baby.
2. Be remorseful and feel sorrow for your abortion (repent).

Repentance goes beyond feeling regret for what you did. It is
more than being sorry you got caught doing something wrong.
Repentance is saying, “I am sorry I did it.” To feel remorse and
repent means to turn away from those wrong things. Determine
never to have another abortion and to keep yourself from sex
outside of marriage (which is also sin). Make a commitment to
stop using excuses to ease your guilt. God does not listen to
excuses, but he does listen to a broken heart.
Along with repentance often comes grief, and grief often means
weeping. I know girls who have found that writing a “letter” to
God and pouring out feelings about the aborted baby helps them
to grieve.
3. Accept Jesus Christ into your life. It is important to understand

that your sin has separated you from God the Father. All sin
separates us from God, and all people have sinned. Because God
loves you, he sent Jesus Christ to reconcile you back to himself,
meaning that he brings you back into a good relationship with
109
himself. Colossians 1:19–20 tells us, “For it was the Father’s good
pleasure ... through Him (Jesus) to reconcile all things to Himself,
having made peace through the blood of His cross.”
Jesus, God the Son, left the glories of heaven to be born into this
world. His mother Mary was a virgin and Jesus was conceived by
the Holy Spirit. He walked this earth as God in human flesh for
thirty-three years. To pay the penalty for your sins, Jesus was
crucified and buried. On the third day, God the Father raised Jesus
from the dead.
John 3:16 sums up what God did for you in sending Jesus. “For
God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that
whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting
life.”
Receiving Jesus into your life is an act of faith which says, “I

believe in my heart that Jesus died, was buried, and God the
Father raised him from the dead for me.” Romans 10:13 tells you,
“For whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.”
You can receive Jesus by praying a prayer like this:
Dear God,
I am sorry for the sins I have committed including having an
abortion. I now repent of those sins. Please forgive me.
Knowing I can do nothing to earn your forgiveness, I trust the
Lord Jesus, who died for sinners, as my personal saviour and
master. Help me to obey you from this day forward. Thank you.
Amen.
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4. Through prayer, ask God’s help to resolve your problems. You

may have a lot to resolve. Many other people have struggled with
the frightening psychological consequences of an abortion. Some
are now completely healed. God can heal you, too, but only if you
rely on his strength and obey his Word, the Bible, regardless how
you feel.
Why not talk to your pastor or a godly woman in your church?

Talk to someone you trust about your abortion. Ask him or her to
pray for you and with you that you will continue to move
forward. Ask for prayer that unresolved areas be brought to your
mind. Ask for prayer to bind the power of Satan so that he won’t
be able to torment you with false guilt. Ask that your hurts will be
healed.
5. Give up your sinful thoughts and actions. To do this, you

must understand what those thoughts and actions
are. The Bible will teach you what
wrong things you are doing. Ask God
for wisdom in dealing with your
problems.
Stop thinking over every little

aspect of the abortion. When
anxious thoughts come to your mind,
refuse to dwell on them. Claim the
forgiveness and wholeness you have in Christ. Memorize and
meditate on Scripture. You need God’s Word “hidden in your
heart” to win this battle.
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6. Replace your sinful thoughts and actions with godly

responses. You will learn how to do this by studying the Bible.
Ask God to give you positive thoughts and a purpose to each day.
Read Christ-centred literature. Watch only television pro-
grammes that help you to stay close to Jesus. Join a church where
the word of God is taught and where you can learn and fellowship
with others who love God and who love you.
Doing all of the above things does not mean that you will forget
your abortion. It means you will learn to put it into proper
perspective and keep it there. Be patient with yourself. It may
take time, but with God’s help you can be healed and go on to live
a life pleasing to him. You may be given the opportunity to help
other women and girls who have had an abortion.
You once made a decision that ended the life of your unborn baby
and nearly ruined your own life. No matter how much you now
regret it, you cannot undo the abortion. But God, through Jesus
Christ, is offering you forgiveness and healing. Relying upon God,
and by a conscious act of your will, choose to conquer the conse-
quences caused by your abortion. Remember God loves you. He
will forgive you and will start healing you right now. All you need
to do is ask him in Jesus’ name.
My abortion was a long time ago.

If you had an abortion a long time ago, maybe you have
experienced something in your life recently that has brought it
all back again for you and you’re finding it hard to shake it off as
you did before. Perhaps this is the first time you’ve allowed
112
yourself to really think about what happened and what your

abortion meant.
You, too, need to repent and trust in Jesus, as explained above, so

that you too can know that forgiveness of God through Jesus
Christ.
I have had many abortions. Is there hope for me?

Women who have one abortion are at increased risk of having
more abortions in the future. Women who have had one or more
abortions are four times more likely to abort a current pregnancy
than those who never had an abortion. About half of all abortions
are now repeat abortions.65
You may be one of those women. Maybe you feel your guilt is too
much. But God also wants to forgive you as much as he wants to
forgive anyone.
You, also, need to ask forgiveness and trust Jesus as your saviour,
so that you can be washed clean through Jesus Christ, and enter
his eternal Kingdom.
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Aina
Aina was 4 months pregnant. She seemed young and timid when
she came to see me with her older, more confident boyfriend.
They asked me to do an abortion.
I was interested to know why they did not want this pregnancy.
Aina lowered her head and whispered “I am too young to be

pregnant.” I replied that she was not too young. She was a healthy
young woman.
Her boyfriend intervened. He came up with the real reason: being

pregnant did not suit their schedule.
Speaking in an almost pleading voice he said,
“I am a final year student in seminary. In less

than a year I am due to be ordained as a
minister of the gospel.
“If my denomination knew my girlfriend was

pregnant, I would be disqualified from the ordination. That is why
you need to help us.”
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“We want to get married in church”
Dorcas and Andrew came to see me at the outpatients’ clinic. They

wanted an abortion quickly.
I spent time counselling them as I wanted to really know their

situation.
Dorcas explained, “We want to get married in church. We are

trying to get together enough money to have a lovely church
ceremony. That is what I want and that is what my parents want.
“If my pregnancy test is positive we will not be allowed to marry in

church. Everyone will be disappointed and my family will be so
embarrassed.”
Andrew added, “We have already completed all the customary rites
of marriage according to our culture. We did that all a year ago and
since then we have been saving towards our church wedding.
“And now this problem,” he added pointing his chin towards

Dorcas.
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CHAPTER ELEVEN :
THE CHURCH AND ABORTION

Dorcas and Andrew’s situation in the previous story is not
unusual. Often church members bring their daughters for
abortion because of wanting to marry in church. The compulsory
pregnancy test reveals the pregnancy and the family are
embarrassed about the girl being pregnant out of wedlock. But if
the couple abort the baby so that they can marry in church, then
their sin of fornication is multiplied to the killing of a child, a
human being made in the image of God
Easy to understand the pressure for abortion

It is easy to understand why women and girls have abortions.
Tradition and culture tend to force young women to seek
abortions because there are strong feelings against accepting
unmarried women with children. In many cultures it is shameful
for an unmarried girl to become pregnant. An unmarried
pregnant woman, especially without someone wanting to marry
her, is often despised by the community. Attention is brought to
her sin after she decides not to kill her baby but to continue her
pregnancy. She is often disciplined in church without the man
who got her pregnant being disciplined at the same time.
One could argue that because so many abortions are done

illegally in Nigeria, and so much harm is coming to young women
The Church and abortion
because of the hidden nature of the abortions, the government

should provide safer, legal abortion for those who want it. This is
the cry of the pro-abortion lobby all over the world. However, we
must not forget the important underlying principle: both the
mother and the baby in the womb are human beings who deserve
our protection and care. We cannot speak out on behalf of the
mother and forget the baby. On the other hand, nor can we speak
out on behalf of the baby and forget to care for the mother.
The answer to “unsafe” abortions is

to provide positive caring
The answer to alternatives to abortion so that
women and girls do not feel the need
“unsafe” abortions
to have abortions. The answer to
is to provide “unsafe” abortion is not to provide
positive caring more safe abortions. All abortions
alternatives to are very unsafe to the baby, who has
his or her life snuffed out before
abortion having the chance to breathe God’s
air outside the womb. The answer is
responding in love for both the woman and the child in her
womb. This is what God wants us to do, even if the mother did sin
through sex outside marriage.
Even better would be for our young people not to engage in sex
before marriage at all, and to have the skills and conviction
needed to keep sex for marriage alone.
117
Hating the sin but loving the sinner

Ada was a final year unmarried medical student when she became
pregnant. All who knew Ada admired her. She was a pretty
Christian lady, from an elite family, who was greatly loved by her
classmates. Her parents and siblings felt Ada’s pregnancy was too
disgraceful to the family, so they wanted her to have an abortion.
One of her sisters was so disgusted by Ada that she denounced
her in front of her friends. In a matter of weeks she became an
object of scorn and ridicule by her classmates.
The man responsible for Ada’s pregnancy denied responsibility

for her and the baby after she refused to heed his advice to abort
the baby. After heated discussion, he abandoned her. Sadly, even
some of her close Christian friends deserted her.
With her final medical exams fast approaching, Ada was faced
with the difficulty of how to cope with her exams and the
pregnancy without support from anywhere. It would have been
easy to give in to the pressure coming from her boyfriend, family
and friends. It took courage to hold firm to the decision she had
made.
To her credit Ada was determined not to add another sin by

aborting her tiny baby. A caring Christian female classmate asked
Ada to come and live with her. This kind classmate, along with
one or two other friends helped Ada go through this very difficult
period of her life.
God answered prayer for the timing of the baby’s birth. The baby
arrived a few days after her final medical examinations. Ada
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passed her examinations and today is currently enjoying a very

fulfilling medical practice. She has been reconciled with her
family. She is married to a wonderful husband and together they
have two other children. Ada has found peace with her God and is
active in her church.
What should be the Christian response to

abortion?
We believe that the response of the church to the issue of
abortion should be five-fold.
• Speak out to society about the truth about abortion

• Educate our members and families
• Care for those who are pregnant and thinking about
having an abortion
• Counsel those who need help
• Pray
Speak Out
God has called his people to be “salt
and light” in the world. This means
that, like John the Baptist, we must
speak out fearlessly against sin and
stand up for righteousness, calling
our nations to maintain human
laws in harmony with God’s
divine law. Within a democracy,
119
we not only have the right but the duty to struggle for Christian
values. There are some things that all of us can do to uphold
Christian standards. You could write to your local politicians at
State level and Federal level urging them to stand for what is
right in God’s eyes. You could contribute to magazines and radio
programmes. You could encourage pharmacists, doctors and
nurses, and obstetricians in your local church to always do what
is right in their practice of medicine. One pharmacist I know
distributes leaflets offering help and counsel for pregnant girls
who come to his pharmacy for medicines to try to cause an
abortion.
Care
If we condemn abortion but do nothing to care for the woman
who feels pressured to abort her baby, then we are wrong. We are
then exchanging inhumanity towards the child for inhumanity
towards the mother in need. Instead, we must offer practical
help, support and alternatives to abortion to deal effectively with
the problem of unwanted pregnancy and to spare human life.
Pressures for abortion may arise from
• being unmarried
• being unsupported by a reliable husband
• having an unsympathetic family
• lack of money
• fear of being unable to cope.
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We must address these areas of need,

not only to prevent abortions, but
also simply out of love for our
neighbours.
Christians have a special responsi-

bility to care. Some examples include
providing clothes, making sure the
woman or girl has access to medical
care, and providing food and shelter when needed. Are you
willing to do this in the name of Jesus Christ, who cared for the
outcasts? Are you willing to take a pregnant woman or girl to live
with you?
The Bible tells us,
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is

this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.
Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If
one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and
well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what
good is it? (James 1:27).
In other words, we need to show love in our actions and practical

help for those in need.
Educate
Start with yourself. Find out as much as you can about abortion
and arrange for someone who knows the facts to come and speak
at your church, youth fellowship, men’s or women’s fellowship,
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or Bible study. Write pro-life literature yourself or gather some

from others and distribute it in your church, school and place of
work. It is very important that people receive Christian, biblical
teaching about abortion.
Thousands of African women and girls are having abortions each

year. Most of them are ignorant of what they are really doing.
Many are pressured into killing their developing baby. In
desperate circumstances, a woman or girl feels insecure,
ashamed, guilty and alone.
One of our most important

tasks is to educate young
people about the whole area
of sexuality and marriage be-
fore an unwanted pregnancy
occurs. This should include
giving information about the
pregnancy and how the baby
develops. We need to explain more than just the facts. We must
also help our youth understand God’s purposes and ideals for us
as male and female.
Probably nearly all our Christian young people have been told
that sex outside marriage is a sin, but do they understand why?
There are many good books, lessons and other resources to help
parents, teachers and churches to educate their young people in
this way.
All too often, a girl or young woman chooses to have an abortion

because she fears rejection and hostility from her church if she
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continues the pregnancy. This is the very church family that

should be able to counsel her and assure her of the forgiveness
and love of God.
After an abortion, as mentioned earlier, a woman may be

burdened with guilt, depression and even despair. She will need
the counsel and loving concern of Christians who can point her to
the death of Christ as the only way of forgiveness.
Pray
Last but not least, in our present tragic circumstances, it is our
Christian responsibility to pray. We must pray for those in places
of influence and authority, for Government, for the medical
profession and social services as well as women in need and their
little ones in danger.
We need to pray for pro-life organisations, for all those who take
a stand for the family and Christian values, and for an awakening
of Christian people to the seriousness and urgency of the
situation.
Pregnancy testing before marriage

Many Nigerian churches insist on a negative pregnancy test as a
condition before joining the couple in wedlock. The intentions of
these churches are noble. They want to preserve the holiness of
the church and the sanctity of marriage. However, there are
several problems with this approach to holiness in the church.
Some of the problems are:
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• Pregnancy itself is not a sin. Sex outside of marriage is

sin. A sinful act may result in pregnancy, but being
pregnant is not the sin.
• Couples may be having sex before marriage while still
avoiding pregnancy. Those who know how to use
modern methods of avoiding pregnancy (contraception)
will escape detection though they may still be
committing the sin. Pregnancy tests cannot detect the
sin. Thus, many unmarried couples are having sexual
relations but are not punished or disciplined.
• The commonly-used urine pregnancy tests are not
fool proof. They may not detect a pregnancy in the first
few weeks. They may also fail to show a later pregnancy
for various reasons. Sometimes they may even indicate
falsely that the woman is pregnant. This is called a “false
positive” result, meaning the test shows pregnancy even
though the woman is not pregnant, and may never have
been pregnant.
• Many girls have aborted their babies to avoid
detection by the church. The girl’s pregnancy test may
then indicate that she is or is not pregnant, as it takes
several weeks for the tests to become negative after the
end of pregnancy. So, there are situations where a test
may be positive but the girl is no longer pregnant as the
pregnancy has been terminated earlier. Either way, it is
tragic that the girl has ended the life of an unborn baby
because of the pressure she faced.
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• Some girls have tried to deceive the church by

providing someone else’s urine specimen or something
else for the test. Some churches try to prevent this by
asking the girls to produce the urine sample under the
watchful eyes of a church worker. Again, not many girls
are comfortable with producing urine while someone else
is watching.
• By placing so much emphasis on the pregnancy test, the
church is unwittingly pushing some people towards the
path of abortion.
The time has come for the church in Nigeria (and perhaps other
African countries) to review this policy of compulsory pregnancy
test before marriage. Is the pregnancy test still relevant as a pre-
requisite for the wedding ceremony? Church leaders should be
committed to building people of integrity who can be trusted
with their words. We need to develop people of purity and
integrity whose “yes is yes and no is no” (Matthew 5:37). This, we
believe should be the emphasis for this generation.
We must also consider what is the best course of action in our

churches even when there is a pregnancy in a couple intending
marriage. Let us suppose that they are otherwise suitable for
marriage and that they have repented and sincerely desire to
follow God’s teachings. Consider some possibilities:
• Under pressure, the couple decides to abort the baby so

that they can enjoy the privilege of a church wedding. A
life is lost, and sin likely remains hidden in secret,
working like a poison for years to come.
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• The couple decides not to abort the baby despite the

pressure. They are rejected by the church, though they
understand very well that many church members are just
as guilty though they have not been found out. They
leave the church and even lose their faith, after
concluding that the words about love, grace and
forgiveness are meaningless.
• The church does not require a pregnancy test, but during
the pastor’s careful counselling, the couple admit that
they have been having sex. They already know that this is
wrong, and with the pastor’s guidance they confess their
sins and make a fresh commitment to purity. Knowing
how hard this will be, the pastor gives them some
practical suggestions and assures the couple that he will
pray for them and also check on their progress.
This couple now ask the pastor about abortion, since they
are fearful of being condemned and shamed by the
church and others. However, the pastor tells them that
what is in the womb is already a human life, precious in
God’s sight, and that God wants them to take delight in
the child and be its protector and source of life. The
couple agree. They rejoice in God’s forgiveness and are
soon wed in a beautiful and joyous church celebration. A
few months later, they have a beautiful baby girl, and
decide to name her Grace.
Although churches must consider many parts of this problem,

they do need to look carefully at their policies to be sure that
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they are the best ways to show God’s love, grace, forgiveness, and
holiness to his people and to the whole world.
Conforming to the world?

The church must realise that the problem is not pregnancy, and
that the problem goes much deeper even than premarital sex.
The world has invaded the church so deeply that it appears that
Christian youths take their cues from the Internet and popular
entertainment industries rather than from God’s word. This
worldly culture does not draw the line between love and lust. It
does not see sex outside of marriage as sin. Hollywood scorns the
Christ’s words that looking lustfully at women is sin (Matthew
5:28). This culture does not encourage youths to be like Job who
vowed in his heart not to look lustfully at a lady (Job 31:1). It is a
culture that is increasingly permissive to pre-marital sex.
Unfortunately, many youths are influenced by this culture. This

is clear in the way Hollywood fashion is copied and embraced by
the youth, particularly Christian girls. It also shows in the
carefree and careless interactions seen between boys and girls,
even within the church premises. Their behaviour seems to be
influenced more by what they see on the movies than by God’s
word.
More than at any other time in its history, the Nigerian and
African church needs to arise and confront this challenge.
Unfortunately, not much practical help is found in the average
sermon from the pulpit to help youth conduct themselves in
ways that will help them remain holy during courtship. Through
holy living, we bring glory to God with our bodies. Pastors and
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church leaders ought to spend more time and energy teaching

young people—in fact all of us!—to say no to sex before and
outside of marriage.
Truth and grace, discipline and reconciliation

The church must balance truth and
grace. An army does not leave its
An army does not
wounded on the battle field to die. “A
bruised reed he will not break, and a
leave its wounded
smouldering wick he will not snuff on the battle field
out” (Matthew 12:20). By its actions to die.
or inactions, the church appears to
be leaving its wounded on the field
where they are open to further attacks by the enemy of their
souls.
When we abandon women facing crisis pregnancies, we expose

them to being exploited by the enemies of God. Christian leaders
need to preach the full truth against sexual immorality, including
God’s anger and judgment against such sins. However, the church
must realize that pregnancy is not a sin. The sin may have been
committed long before the pregnancy was noticed. The act that
led to the pregnancy may have been a sin but the pregnancy itself
is not a sin. Whenever the church drives young people to seek
abortion as a way out of their sin, we make them to add sin to sin.
We must extend grace and God’s forgiveness to those who have
been ensnared.
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Hospitality and support

Christians should willingly open their homes to women facing
crisis pregnancy. The families of both authors of this book have
opened their home to distressed pregnant girls. We can help
them financially, emotionally and even spiritually. No matter
what led to the pregnancy, we must resist the “holier than thou
attitude” that condemns others. What women facing crisis
pregnancy need the most is love and acceptance. Christians
should volunteer to accept “unwanted children” for foster care.
The church needs to speak out against parents who throw

their daughters out of their homes because they become
pregnant. Schools (especially Christian schools) and other
organizations that have a policy of expelling girls who get
pregnant need to think again about the matter. These policies are
unfair as often times no punishment is meted out to the male
partner. No one really benefits when the girl is expelled from the
family or school: not the girl, not the baby, not the community,
and not the family.
Beyond punishment, what do these institutions hope to gain from

such policies? The fact is that a low pregnancy rate does not
necessarily mean better morality. It may just mean a high
abortion rate and more use of modern contraception. Besides, are
we saying if young people have erred, there is no room for
forgiveness?
The church must help society to change its attitude towards crisis
pregnancy. That a girl is pregnant does not mean she must give
up her career and life’s ambitions. It does not mean that her baby
129
must be condemned to a broken family, poverty, or an

uneducated mother. Christians must be actively involved in
speaking up on behalf of the innocent, vulnerable members of
our communities who cannot defend themselves. We cannot
afford to sit on the fence on this matter. Silence is not golden in
relation to saving lives.
The church loses the right to speak out against abortion if it does
not provide help for the problems faced by women in crisis
pregnancies as well as practical alternatives to abortion.
The church will need to support pro-life organizations

financially, materially and otherwise. Ministries in a few places
are doing a great job helping women facing crisis pregnancy.
However, there is still a need for greater awareness and for more
such groups need to be created all over the country and across
Africa. The church in Nigeria is well positioned to spearhead this
effort.
Unfortunately, while the pro-abortion lobby is channelling a lot

of money into their campaign, the church is sitting on the side-
lines and doing very little. We need to break down denomina-
tional barriers so that we can join our efforts and resources to
confront the challenge. Every church member must become fully
involved in this battle of our age that has sought to sacrifice our
children, children made in God’s image, on the altar of choice and
convenience.
It would be better if our single girls did not become pregnant. We

need parents and programmes to teach our youth that sex is for
marriage alone. If there were less premarital sex, there would be
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fewer abortions. We need to teach our youth the life-skills needed

to make good decisions about relationships and marriage.
In Nigeria we have wonderful materials produced by the

Fellowship of Christian Students (FCS) to teach on these issues.
Also, the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) AIDS Ministry
youth department has developed similar materials. Beacon of
Hope (TEKAN) has also developed the ABY (Abstinence Be
Faithful Youth) programme.
Adoption, not abortion

This is a slogan that aims to help women and girls to think of a
positive alternative to abortion. All of us know families where
adopted children are loved and have contributed much to the life
of the family whether by formal adoption or by being included in
the family without any formal adoption papers.
How many babies are adopted?

In the United States, only 4% of babies born outside of marriage
are placed for adoption. In the United States this is about 50,000
adoptions a year, compared to 1,500,000 babies aborted each year.
In other words there are many more abortions than adoptions. I
am sure Nigeria is similar.
It is not an easy decision to give your baby into someone’s care

and then walk away. Most women and girls have strong maternal
feelings for the baby they have delivered even if they had earlier
considered abortion. Many, having seen the baby they have
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carried for nine months, will change their minds and keep the
baby rather than give him or her for adoption.
In Africa, we probably all know instances where a child has been

put into a family’s care even without legal adoption papers from
the social welfare department. Many childless couples care for
someone else’s children. They often have an ocean of love to give
and the child benefits from being included in the family. Many
more parents long for the joy of children. When they are not able
to have their own, they continue
searching to find a baby to adopt.
God believes in
Pro-life organisations should work
adoption—he
alongside social welfare departments
adopted us! to organise adoptions. All the proper
His love for us papers must be signed, including by
shows how we family members, and there must be
careful screening of the family who
should treat
are asking to legally adopt a child.
adopted children. Sadly, in recent days there have been
too many sensational stories in
Africa of “baby factories” and
criminals capturing pregnant girls and selling their babies to
couples desiring to have children.
Why do so few mothers place their babies for adoption?

There is often a negative view of adoption in Africa. People tell
me stories of how adopted children bring trouble to a family.
People claim that adopted children may be despised or
persecuted by other family members. Sometimes those who
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promote abortion speak of adoption as a terrible fate for a baby.

Some making money from abortion would rather “kill” the baby
than see them adopted.
Doctors at Parklane Specialist Hospital in Enugu talked to 279

women who were infertile, unable to have children. Surprisingly,
they found that almost 70% of the infertile women did not want to
adopt a baby. The reasons they gave included:
• adoption is not a solution to their infertility;

• adoption is psychologically unacceptable;
• there is a fear of unknown parental background of the
children placed for adoption;
• there may be abnormal behaviour in the child.66
So often, however, the opposite is true: adopted children often

bring great blessing and happiness to a family. They may excel in
many fields with the right nurturing and encouragement. To
promote adoption as a positive alternative to abortion, we need
to mount a consistent education campaign to defeat the harmful
myths about adoption.
As Christians we know the joy of being adopted into God’s family.

We were aliens and strangers and yet God, in his love through
Jesus Christ, adopted us and made us his sons and daughters. God
believes in adoption and his love for us is a good example of how
we should treat adopted children.
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When should a baby be placed for adoption?

From the child’s standpoint, the earlier the adoption the better.
The very best is to place the baby in the adoptive parents’ arms
directly from the hospital (or even in the hospital) so that
bonding can happen immediately. Even when this is not possible,
the sooner the adoptive parents begin caring for the baby, the
better.
Bonding
Feeding, caring for, and
holding the baby close all
help create a very special,
unbreakable emotional
tie between this tiny one
and the parents. This
special connection is
called a bond and the
process is called bonding.
This tie can also develop
between the new-born
and the adoptive parents.
Putting a baby in an orphanage for months or years before an

adoption takes place is definitely not the best for the baby,
because the baby needs that special love and connection with a
mother and father. For the baby, bonding works best in the first
few days or at most weeks. Whenever possible, then, the baby
must go directly from the hospital into the loving arms of the
new parents.
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Doctors and child-care workers learned long ago that babies

lacking personal care and attention will become sick and die,
even though they are fed and clothed. This supports the fact that
babies should be adopted early on. It also tells us that babies who
are not adopted early, for whatever reason, need loving, personal
care. A baby who was neglected for months is more likely to have
problems later on.
Does your church have a ministry of caring for such babies? Can
you do it yourself? Could the church contribute some support to
allow a few widows, for example, to go to an orphanage every
day to simply hold and feed the babies? It seems like a simple
task, hardly a great work, but in fact it can be a life-changing
ministry to these small ones. As Jesus said, giving to even one of
them is the same as giving to Jesus himself.
The adoption process in Nigeria

Unfortunately, adoption in Nigeria and other African countries is
often difficult and can take a long time. If the baby is given at
once to the family which is hoping to adopt, then the baby can
still bond with the adoptive parents while the adoption is being
processed.
Adoption laws are usually complex and hard to understand. In

Nigeria, the laws differ in each state. The Nigerian civil court is
responsible for all adoptions. The law in most sections of the
country provides that an application for an adoption order must
be submitted to the registrar of the court. On application for
adoption, the court will appoint someone as the child’s “guardian
ad litem.” This person will represent him or her in the adoption
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proceedings. The “guardian ad litem” is the welfare officer in

charge of the area where the child lives, a probation officer or
some other person suitably qualified in the opinion of the court.
The “guardian ad litem” investigates the circumstances relevant

to the proposed adoption and reports confidentially in writing to
the court. Prospective adoptive parents must inform the chief
welfare officer of their intention to adopt at least three months
before the court order is made. For at least three consecutive
months immediately preceding an adoption order, the child must
have been in the care and custody of the adoptive parents. The
applicant for adoption must be resident in Nigeria during this
entire period.
The confidential report of the welfare officer will be written after

several visits to the home of the adoptive parents and after he or
she is satisfied that the child is settled and that the prospective
adoptive parents are capable of looking after him or her. In such
a case, a positive recommendation will be sent to the court.
In some Nigerian states, after the adoption has been granted, the
adoptive parents must obtain the court’s permission before
taking the child out of the court’s jurisdiction, for example to
another state, either temporarily or permanently. These adoption
procedures can take from a few months to a few years, depending
on the state of origin of the child.
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CHAPTER TWELVE :
ABORTION AND THE FUTURE

DEVALUING OF HUMAN LIFE
Africa should never believe that making abortion legal would be
the answer to the abortion problem.
Abortion is not a medical problem. It is a social problem. Doctors,

nurses, pharmacists and herbalists are being asked to become
executioners. This is a far cry from the high calling to practice
the healing art of medicine.
Over the years we have heard the message that making abortion
legal would do away with dangerous, illegal abortions. But there
still are and always will be illegal abortions. Those who want to
bring legal abortion to Africa promise that better sex education
would decrease the need for abortions. But we all know that in
countries where abortion is legal and sex education (without
morality) is common, there are now even more teenage
pregnancies. The pro-abortion lobby tells us that abortion is the
back up to failed contraception. They say it is a necessary evil for
a society where everyone is encouraged to do what they feel like
and there is little self-control.
This devaluing of human life by abortion has led to other

practices that also devalue human life.
Test tube babies (in vitro fertilization)

Infertility, the inability of a couple to have a child, is a major
problem in Africa, where a high premium is placed on
reproduction. In Nigeria, between 40 to 70% of a gynaecologist’s
clinic will be made up of infertility cases. The burden and pain
borne by couples experiencing this problem is great and has been
likened to bereavement. Thus, we must feel for and support all
these childless couples who are faced with this peculiar challenge
and desperately want a child.
With the introduction of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and embryo

transfer (ET), giant strides have been made toward solving this
problem. These processes involve fertilising a woman’s egg
outside her body, letting an embryo develop, then planting the
embryo back into her body. Since these babies begin life in the
laboratory, they are sometimes called test tube babies.
The process involves first using drugs to stimulate the woman to

super-ovulate, to produce more than the one egg she would
normally produce in a monthly cycle. This carries a significant
risk of over-stimulation which can be life threatening. However,
with good clinical care, this complication can usually be avoided
or managed without many side effects.
The eggs are collected and then incubated in the laboratory.

Next, they are mixed with the father’s sperm. Fertilisation takes
place in a few hours. The resulting embryo is cultured for some
time in the laboratory and then implanted back into the mother’s
womb. The world’s first test tube baby, Louise Brown, was born
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Abortion and the future devaluing of human life
on 25 July 1978, in Oldham, United Kingdom. Since then, many,

many babies have been born after being conceived this way.
To improve the chances of success, several embryos are usually

implanted into the mother’s womb. If more than one survives,
the mother will have twins, triplets, or even more births. Multiple
pregnancies are more likely than single pregnancies to have
problems, including premature births.
What is the moral problem

with this approach? It is the
issue of the extra embryos.
Doctors rarely create a single
fertilised embryo to implant in
the woman. To improve the
chances of achieving a live
birth, they make more embryos
Eggs being incubated in
than will be implanted and droplets of fluid.
born. What do they do with the other embryos, each one a new
human life? They may freeze them for implanting into the womb
later or they may destroy them, sometimes after first using them
for research.
We may think that IVF is a sign of progress, but if we understand

that human life begins at conception then we understand that the
destroyed embryos are also human lives, precious in God’s sight.
Just as in abortion, unwanted lives are disposed of.
Childlessness is a heavy burden. Couples facing this problem need

a lot of empathy and support from us. In vitro fertilisation and
embryo transfer may seem an attractive option but there are
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many ethical dilemmas. A Christian couple needs to know the

facts about IVF before deciding what to do. Some have advised
that Christian couples who want to try IVF, while respecting the
sanctity of life, should request that no extra embryos should be
produced.
There is power in prayer; many couples can testify to the power

of God in helping them to become pregnant when human help
had failed. Many other couples have adopted or fostered children.
Many adoptive parents testify that the day they adopted a child
was as joyous as the day a child was born.
Infanticide
The cheapening of human life brought about by the abortion-on-
demand policies has contributed to two other curses on the
society: infanticide and euthanasia. Infanticide is killing a new-
born. “Medical infanticide” involves doctors and nurses killing a
baby, or allowing it to die of neglect. This usually happens
because someone decides that the baby will not have a life worth
leading.
What started as a woman’s right to have an abortion has become

a woman’s right to have a dead baby inside or outside the womb.
It may be hard to believe, but in some places doctors are legally
killing babies when they think that they should not live because
of handicap, illness, or the social environment into which the
child is born.
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Euthanasia
The word euthanasia originally meant sweet or easy death, death
without suffering. Today, euthanasia, often called “mercy-
killing,” is understood as causing death in order to end suffering.
It may be taking the life of someone who is having much pain and
suffering from an illness such as cancer. Sometimes it can be
taking the life of a person who is simply dependent on others,
though it is claimed to be for that weak person’s own benefit.
Perhaps it is an elderly person and the family do not visit often.
Perhaps it is a person who has had an accident and needs “too
much” care. If the life is “not wanted” then the argument is that
it is better to end that life.
Euthanasia can be carried out in a variety of ways. A doctor, nurse

or someone else may directly kill the sick person by giving a drug
overdose. Not so obviously, they may refuse to give the person
water, food, or medical treatment, knowing that such a refusal
will lead to the person’s death.
Voluntary euthanasia means that a person is killed or helped to die

by his or her own request. Often, people who make this request
are in great pain, sick without hope of recovery, and likely to die
soon anyway.
Euthanasia is clearly not acceptable within Christian teaching, where the

value and dignity of human life are central. If we stop to think about
it, we will know that the weakest and sick amongst us contribute
to our families and society in some way. No human being is a
burden. Caring for elderly parents, grandparents, or the weak and
141
disabled cannot be seen as wasting time and resources. We do not

love and care for people because they are “productive.” We care
for them because they are human beings, made in the image of
God and loved by God. Life is precious and to be cherished at all
stages. We must care for sick and handicapped people and help
them to lead lives as normal as possible.
The usual duty of the medical profession is to save life and

prolong it, to heal and to cure. However, cases regularly arise that
are past cure or healing from a human viewpoint. In these cases,
the medical staff, pastors and others have a different task:
helping the patient to “die well.” This includes
• helping manage pain and discomfort;

• if possible, giving the person time and energy to settle
spiritual and earthly affairs and to say goodbyes;
• giving spiritual support and direction, such as helping the
unbeliever to find salvation, a bitter person to extend
forgiveness, or a fearful person to find assurance of
eternal life;
• finally, allowing the person to die as peacefully as
possible.
Death cannot be put off forever; there comes a time when doctors
must tell the patient, “There is nothing more we can do for you.”
The doctor, the patient, friends, family, and pastor must all
recognize then that there comes a point when we have to accept
that life’s end has been reached. The combined efforts and
prayers of all will help the patient to accept death with Christian
trust and hope.
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There are many examples in the Bible of people facing death with
acceptance and faith, and where death is portrayed not as a result
of misfortune but as the natural close to a life well lived. One such
example is Abraham, who dies “full of years,” having lived long
and well (Genesis 25:7–10)
Jesus himself accepted death in obedience to his Father’s plan of

salvation. On the cross, he spoke the words that, at the end of life,
all Christians will want to repeat with faith and hope: “Father,
into your hands I commend my spirit.”
The apostle Paul speaks of death as a “good thing” as it will allow

him to be with Christ (Philippians 1:21–26). We, along with
Scripture, sometimes refer to death as resting or sleeping as we
wait for the resurrection when Christ returns to earth. A
Christian funeral is a time when we celebrate the joy of eternal
life and the hope of our being re-united with the deceased loved
one on the Last Day, even while acknowledging the pain of
separation and loss.
Life belongs A Nigerian theological teacher

recently told us that traditionally
to the
“Life belongs to the community.” She
community explained that, traditionally for
Nigerians, a person does not “own”
his or her own life or body but is part
of the community. This means that no one has the right to end
the life of another or his own life, as each life is part of the
community and the community’s responsibility. This fact, added
to the value that the Christian teaching gives to life, should
143
doubly spur us on to end the wasting of the most vulnerable

human life of all, life in the womb.
Conclusion
One of my favourite verses in scripture is this.
“Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father
is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress” (James
1:27).
What has caring for orphans to do with abortion?

Picture a collision of two cars on a treacherous Nigerian road. A
three year old boy, Umaru, is in the car with his mother and
father. Mother and father are killed. Umaru has minor injuries,
but he will be fine. The police spend time checking and discover
there are no grandparents and no other known family members.
This is a heart-breaking situation, but one where Christian
families and the church should accept the challenge: “Step in and
take care for Umaru who is now an orphan.”
Abortion puts a baby in a worse situation than Umaru. When a baby is

to be aborted, the parents are not dead as Umaru’s were. Rather,
they have turned on the child and now choose to have him dead.
God wants us to have compassion and care for this child, whose
life is endangered because his parents choose to make him dead.
Mother and father are not dying parents. They are killing
parents.
When the Bible says, visit them “in their distress,” we may ask,
“Is there any place of greater distress than in the womb of a
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woman who gives herself over to abortion?” This is the greatest

distress any child will ever experience. To be torn limb from limb
in the very place that should be the safest place in the world is
“distress” if there is ever anything called “distress.”
We pray that the horrors of abortion and the glory of God’s grace
will move you to take up the challenge to live and work to save
the lives of babies who are being sacrificed on the altars of
selfishness, convenience, reputation, and family pride.
God’s kingdom challenges us—society, churches, families, and

individuals—to discover how to stand firm against the evil of
abortion while still reaching out helping hands to care for some
of the weakest and most vulnerable of all, single mothers and
their children.
Give justice to the weak and the

fatherless;
maintain the rights of the afflicted
and the destitute.
Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the
wicked.
(Psalm 82:3–4)
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APPENDIX
NIGERIAN LAW AND ABORTION
Northern Nigeria
Under the Penal Code, in Northern Nigeria, an abortion may be
legally performed only to save the life of the pregnant woman.
Except for this purpose, a person who voluntarily causes a
woman with child to miscarry is subject to up to fourteen years’
imprisonment and/or payment of a fine. A woman who causes
her own miscarriage is subject to the same penalty. There are
harsher penalties if the woman dies as a result of the miscarriage.
Southern Nigeria and the Criminal Code

Like the Penal Code, the Criminal Code (in Southern Nigeria),
which is modelled on the English Offences against the Person Act
of 1861, allows an abortion to be legally performed only to save
the life of the woman. Section 297 says that “a person is not
criminally responsible for performing in good faith and with
reasonable care and skill a surgical operation...upon an unborn
child for the preservation of the mother’s life if the performance
of the operation is reasonable, having regard to the patient’s
state at the time and all the circumstances of the case.”
Nigerian Law and Abortion
Any person who, with intent to cause the miscarriage of a

woman, unlawfully gives her any harmful thing or uses any
other method, is subject to fourteen years’ imprisonment.
A woman who herself tries to cause an abortion or agrees to

one, can have seven years’ imprisonment. Any person who
supplies anything knowing that it is intended to be unlawfully
used to cause a miscarriage can be sent to prison for three
years.
147
NOTES
1 Emeasoba, B.E.A., Abortion: the Monster Crouches Again. Daily Champion

(Lagos) July 5, 2004.
2 Westen, John-Henry. Johannesburg, April 5, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com).
3 King, Alevda, “How Can the Dream Survive if We Murder Our Children?”
http://www.silentnomoreawareness.org/testimonies/alveda-king.html. Dr.
King is the daughter of Rev. A. D. King, Martin Luther King’s brother, and is the
founder of King for America.
4 Okpani A. and Okpani J., The conditions of the right to abortion in 1994 and 1999.
CEDPA, 2000.
5 World Health Organization (WHO). Unsafe Abortion : Global and Regional Estimates
of Incidence of Unsafe Abortion and Associated Mortality in 2000. Geneva, Switzerland:
WHO, 2004. Also WHO poster, Unsafe Abortion in 2008, http://www.who.int/
reproductivehealth/topics/unsafe_abortion/poster_unsafe_abortion.pdf .
6 Okonofua, Friday, Dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Benin
and Executive Director of the Women’s Health and Action Research Centre in
Nigeria. Society of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians of Nigeria. Quoted in BMJ
November 2002.
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.
9 Ibid.
10 Ransome-Kuti, Olikoye, Former Nigerian Minister of Health. BMJ November
2002.
11 Gutermacher Institute, 2003, quoted by IPAS, Abuja, Tuesday, 19 Feb 2008.
12 Gutermacher Institute, BBC News March 2008.
13 International Family Planning Perspectives, 23:155–161, 1997.
14 “Women’s experience of unwanted pregnancy and induced abortion in
Nigeria. The Population Council with Jos University Teaching Hospital and Dept.
of Sociology, University of Jos, 1996.
Notes
15 Makinwa-Adebusoye, Paulina, Susheela Singh and Suzette Audam. “Nigerian

Health Professionals’ Perceptions About Abortion Practice.” International Family
Planning Perspectives, 23:155–161, 1997.
16 “Women’s experience of unwanted pregnancy and induced abortion in
Nigeria.” 1996. The Population Council with Jos University Teaching Hospital
and Dept. of Sociology, University of Jos, 1996.
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid.
19 Nardone, R. M., “The Nexus of Biology and the Abortion Issue.” Jurist, Spring
1973, 154.
20 Garton, Jean Staker, Who Broke the Baby? Bethany House Publishers,
Minneapolis, 1979.
21 Washington Post, September 9, 1987.
22 “Abortion is crime against society, says Pope Benedict.” Catholic News Service.
December 2005. http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0506904.htm .
23 Pope Benedict XVI’s address to the bishops of Kenya during their ad limina
visit to Rome. ciNews, 19 November 2007.
http://www.cinews.ie/article.php?artid=4170.
24 “Nigerian religious leaders oppose proposed law to legalize abortion,” Baptist
Press, 30 March 2001. http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=10600.
25 “Abortion: Forbidden in All Stages?” at
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=Islamonline-English-
Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1119503547110 .
26 Miller, Lisa, “No God—And No Abortions,” Newsweek, Nov. 29, 2008.
27 Kunhiyop, Samuel Waje, Africa Christian Ethics. ACTS Bukuru, Nigeria, 2008.
28 Piper, John, “The Baby in my Womb Leaped for Joy,” 2009. Used by
permission.
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/2009/
3528_The_Baby_in_My_Womb_Leaped_for_Joy/.
29 Some ideas taken from “Abortion. A Matter of Life and Death.” Report of
Public Morals Committee of Evangelical Presbyterian Church, compiled by Rev.
S. J. Garland. 1981.
30 Ibid.
31 “Life Before Birth,” Life Magazine, Apr 30, 1965, p. 13.
32 Moore, K. and Persaud, T., The Developing Human, Clinically Oriented Embryology,
6th Edition, Philadelphia: W.B. Sanders, 1998, p. 37–45.
33 Ibid.
149
34 HCG is human chorionic gonadotropin, the hormone that makes a pregnancy

test positive.
6th Edition, Philadelphia: W.B. Sanders, 1998, p. 42–48, 76.
36 Mitchell, B and Sharma, R., Embryology, New York: Churchill Livingstone, Dec.
2004.
37 Estimates vary for when the heart begins to beat: 21–22 days (Moore, K. and
Persaud, T.); at least by 23 days from transvaginal ultrasound results (O’Rahilly,
R. and Muller, F.); 21–22 days (Carlson, B.); 18 days (Tanner, J. and Taylor, G. and
the editors of Time-Life Books, Growth, New York: Life Science Library, 1965, p.
64 [a 40 year old source]).
38. O’Rahilly, R. and Muller, F., Human Embryology and Teratology, 3rd Edition,
New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2001.
39 Carlson, B., p. 292, 308. O’Rahilly, p. 456, 471 puts the appearance of the eye at
about 28 days.
6th Edition, Philadelphia: W.B. Sanders, 1998.
41 Ibid.
42 O’Rahilly, R. and Muller, F., p. 235, 236.
43 Moore, K. and Persaud, T., p. 236–242.
44 O’Rahilly, R. and Muller, F., p. 429.
45 Moore, K. and Persaud, T., p. 437.
46 Tsiaras, A. and Werth, B., p. 102, 114, 119.
49 Ibid., p. 428.
50 Carlson, B., p. 483, 484.
52 Ibid, p. 514, 519.
53 Tsiaras, A. and Werth, B., p. 210.
54 Valman, H. and Pearson, J., “What the foetus feels,” BMJ, January 26, 1980.
55 Moore, K. and Persaud, T., p. 517.
56 Tsiaras, A. and Werth, B., p. 219.
57 Anand, K and Hickey P, “Pain and Its Effects in the Human Neonate and
Fetus.” The New England Journal of Medicine, (1987) 317:1321–1329. Pain at 20
150
Notes
weeks, perhaps as early as 16 weeks; and Anand, K., report to U. S. Federal Court
as expert witness January 15, 2004.
58 Tsiaras, A. and Werth, B., p. 229, Carlson, B., p. XV.
60 Ibid.
61 Carlson, B., p. 305. 42. Carlson, B., p. XV.
62 Kaunitz, “Causes of Maternal Mortality in the United States,” Obstetrics and
Gynecology, 65, May 1985.
63 Mahler, Martina. “Abortion: the pain no one talks about.” Women’s World, 24
September 1991.
64 Reardon, D. C. Aborted Women Silent No More. Chicago: Loyola University Press.
1987; p. 129.
65 Leach, “The Repeat Abortion Patient,” Family Planning Perspectives, 1977.
66 Ezugwu F. O., Obi S. N., Onah H. E. “The knowledge, attitude and practice of
child adoption among infertile Nigerian women.” J Obstet Gynaecol. 2002 Mar;
22(2):211-6.
151

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Every Abortion

Stops a Beating Heart

Every Abortion Stops a Beating Heart

Published by Africa Christian Textbooks (ACTS)

▪ 14 Oba Akran Avenue, Ikeja Under Bridge Bus Stop, Lagos

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION TO THE ISSUE OF ABORTION 11

CHAPTER TWO: ABORTION IN AFRICA AND NIGERIA 19

CHAPTER THREE: THE PRACTICE OF ABORTION IN NIGERIA 28

“I AM PREGNANT AND SCARED” 37

CHAPTER FOUR: PRO-LIFE OR PRO-ABORTION? 39

“I GUESS YOU GOT IT ALL!” 52

“THEN I KNEW WHAT I HAD DONE!” 53

CHAPTER FIVE: THE LESSONS OF HISTORY 54

“IT WAS TOO LATE” 101

CHAPTER EIGHT: DOES ABORTION HAVE RISKS? 102

“WE WANT TO GET MARRIED IN CHURCH” 115

CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE CHURCH AND ABORTION 116

After qualifying as a nurse in 1974, I worked in a gynaecology

I thank God for another motivating experience in my life. When

strict Christian parents about her pregnancy. She secretly had

Over the years, I have realised that the strongest supporters of

I thank God for the encouragement of my husband Dr. Sid

I also thank God for the wisdom, experience and Christian

Patrick and I are grateful to Dr. Mike Blyth, an SIM missionary

Living in Nigeria since 1987, I have yet to hear a full sermon

people about God’s view of abortion. I pray that this material

Patrick Idoko’s acknowledgements

Later on, I was privileged to do some studies on Biblical ethics

As a gynaecologist, I am frequently confronted with the

I have also had to deal with the complications of unsafe

I am grateful to Jean Garland and her husband Sid Garland, who

Teachers and discussion leaders may find the stories

My thoughts were elsewhere when I realised my cell phone was

“Hello, Sir,” I answered, recognising the familiar number. The caller

The casualness with which he asked the question shocked me. He

Without sounding aghast I said, “I am not comfortable with

“I am sorry, pastor. My conscience does not allow me to end a life

Click – the phone went dead.

INTRODUCTION TO THE ISSUE OF

Abortion is an ancient practice all over the world. It is a familiar

A person’s feelings and opinions about abortion depend on his or

Nigeria and much of Africa, abortion is not legal except in

Abortion has often been the subject of heartfelt arguments by

People sometimes confuse the words “abortion” and

Sometimes medical doctors do use the words “spontaneous

The difference between abortion and miscarriage is like the

An issue for our generation

Some outside groups are “generously” giving more and more

Accepting abortion will have terrible effects on all of us. Nigeria

At school, Nancy had a good friend called Lami. They did

When James returned, he was carrying a glass of white wine.

feeling more confident in herself. James brought her another glass

She slowly remembered some of the details of the night before.

On a hot, dusty April day, at the back of a dirty pharmacy shop,

Nancy was admitted to hospital in a serious condition as her fever

ABORTION IN AFRICA AND NIGERIA

No African country completely

In Zimbabwe, abortion is legal only if the life or physical health of

Kenya’s abortion laws are similar to Nigeria’s. In May 2008, a bill

Ethiopia revised its abortion laws in May 2005. Ethiopia is one of

Abortion is largely prohibited in Uganda. There is strong pressure

South Africa introduced new abortion laws in 1997, It is reckoned

Africa National Congress Government used their new-found